Zhang Daqian’s “Peach Blossom Spring” came from the Mactaggart Art Collection. (Photo : Sotheby’s)
He did it again.
For $34.7 million, Liu Yiqian purchased this month “Peach Blossom Spring,” a 1982 hanging scroll from Chinese painter and collector Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), reported The New York Times.
Liu, owner of Long Museums, posted on WeChat: “Nothing beats a painting by Zhang Daqian!”
Two meters long, Zhang’s painting portrays tranquility, according to China Daily.
The Neijiang-born artist painted the “Peach Blossom Spring” at his house called the Abode of Maya.
On its website, the country’s National Palace Museum hailed Zhang as “one of the greatest painters in the history of modern art.”
Now perhaps one of the greatest art collectors in the country, Liu’s purchases most likely never fails to create a buzz.
The “Chinese taxi driver turned billionaire,” as NY Times wrote, bought Amedeo Modigliani’s (1884-1920) “Nu Couché” for a whopping $170.4 million at Christie’s New York in Nov. 2015.
Art historian Laura Mattioli-Rossi sold the Italian-Jewish painter’s creation, according to NY Times.
Italian cotton merchant Gianni Mattioli (1903-1977) from Milan was regarded by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City as one of the historic collectors of cubism, according to the Met’s website.
Laura inherited his father’s impressive collection.
The shocking sum of money paid by Liu for “Nu Couché” made history by becoming the “second-highest auction price for any artwork,” according to The Telegraph.
In July 2014, Liu poured some tea into a cup measuring 3.1 inches in diameter, reported The Washington Post, and based from the photo taken, delightfully sipped the tea.
Seems nothing extraordinary about it, except that the cup dates back from the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) and that he purchased it for a staggering $36.3 million.
Nicholas Chow, Sotheby’s deputy chairman for Asia, said that the tiny cup was the “holy grail when it comes to Chinese art,” reported Daily Mail.
In November of that same year, he acquired a 15th-century thangka for $45 million.
Encyclopaedia Britannica defines thangka as a “Tibetan religious painting or drawing on woven material.”
