Painting Fetches $9.2M at Auction in Hong Kong

Apr 08, 10:41 AM

Current Headlines: Xu Beihong's 1939 painting "Put Down Your Whip" fetched $9.2 million at a Sotheby's sale in Hong Kong, breaking the Chinese artist's own auction record for an Asian picture.

The oil painting of an anti-Japanese street play with the same name topped the amount paid for Xu's 1924 work "Slave and Lion" at a Christie's International sale in November. The picture is the highlight of 1,200 items Sotheby's is offering at its four-day auction that ends Tuesday. Almost 500 people were in the auction room for the Xu sale Friday.

Xu, born in China's eastern Jiangsu province in 1895, is best- known for his ink depictions of galloping horses. He painted "Put Down Your Whip" in Singapore, halfway through Japan's 14- year invasion and occupation of China. The canvas hasn't been seen in public since 1954, a year after Xu died in Beijing.

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