A painting by an 86-year-old Chinese master has gone under the hammer for a record 30 million yuan ($3.7 million), highlighting soaring world interest in Chinese art.
The work by Wu Guanzhong depicting a cluster of colourful parrots sitting on tree branches smashed the previous record price for a Chinese ink painting of 23 million yuan for a 12th century masterpiece by the Song Dynasty emperor Huizong.
"Wu Guanzhong has successfully melded Chinese and Western artistic traditions," said Ma Zhefei, marketing manager from China's Poly Art and Culture Co, which ran Monday's auction in Beijing.
"His style is very popular now," he told Reuters, explaining the painting's hefty price tag. Wu lived in Paris for three years before returning to China in 1950 to work and teach. The painting, which also set the record for a single work of contemporary Chinese art, was bought by an Indonesian man of Chinese descent, Ma said.