Five Drunken Kings

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The day before yesterday, I began my article on Fu Baoshi in the Modern art group with this sentence: The Chinese pictorial art has a unique feature: throughout 2000 years, it has evolved without ever being outfashioned, so that modern artists have yet found their inspiration in the most ancient of their predecessors.

It is a hint for me to know more, of course. I introduce today a work that is not the most expensive of the next session of sales at Christie's in Hong Kong, but is one of the oldest and one of the most astonishing. A somehow heartfelt lot, estimated 5 MHK$ in the sale of November 29.

It's a horizontal paper scroll, 2.12 m long and 35 cm high, painted in ink and color. The title is great: Five Drunken Kings return on Horses. We see nine riders. Five of them are the kings in just glorifying attitudes. The four servants have to ensure that their precious masters are not falling from horses.

The artist was named Ren Renfa. Heir to a tradition that dates back to Tang dynasty, he specialized in images of horses, and his horses are really beautiful. The irreverent nature of the subject is an evidence of humor, for the author, and of freedom for the art of his time.

This artwork was done 700 years ago, under the Yuan dynasty. Ren Renfa, continuing an artistic tradition several centuries old, is an almost exact contemporary of Giotto, the pioneer of European art.

The ancient Chinese art has not ceased to amaze us.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The Chinese art began to establish its rightful place on the art market, and Chinese auction houses now compete directly with international groups.

Thus a Ming scroll by Wu Bin has been sold 169M RMB (U.S. $ 24.8 million) including premium by Poly in Beijing. A few days earlier, a Qianlong porcelain was sold 83M RMB including premium by Hanhai, also in Beijing.

In these circumstances, the remarkable result of our Drunken Kings shall not surprise us. This masterpiece was sold HK $ 46.6 million (U.S. $ 6M) including premium.

I could take you more often to Beijing before the sales. I visit these websites regularly, but identifying the top lots is difficult. Over time, it will improve, for sure.