T
© Copyrighted Artwork
This artwork is protected by copyright. We cannot display images of works by artists who passed away after 1954.
See the original at Private Collection in Unknown
Twelve Landscape Screens
by Qi Baishi, 1925
Details
- Year
- 1925
- Medium
- Ink and color on paper (12 panels)
Auction History
$140.8M
Poly Auction / Beijing
December 17, 2017
Seller
Private Collection
Buyer
Private Collector
Qi Baishi created the Twelve Landscape Screens in 1925 as a birthday gift for renowned Beijing doctor Chen Zilin. Each of the twelve panels measures 180 by 47 centimeters, rendered in ink and color on paper in the artist's distinctive semi-abstract style. Individual landscapes feature calligraphic poem inscriptions that complement the visual compositions.
Qi Baishi rose from a peasant family to become China's most celebrated 20th-century painter, earning the title "the people's artist." His technique fused traditional Chinese ink painting with modernist elements, blending detailed gongbi realism with freestyle xieyi brushwork. The economy of form and playful brushstrokes made his work accessible to both artistic and political audiences.
Only two complete sets of Twelve Landscape Screens exist. The other set, created in 1932, resides in the Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing. This 1925 version sold at Poly Auction in Beijing in December 2017 for $140.8 million (931.5 million yuan), making Qi Baishi the first Chinese artist to break the $100 million auction barrier. A private Chinese collector acquired the masterwork.
