Rare artworks up for sale

A series featuring 12 mountain-and-water paintings by the artist Qi Baishi (1864-1957) are looking for potential buyers. They are on show in Beijing and are expected to fetch a record-breaking price for the artist.

The 12 hanging scrolls, each measuring 1.8 meters in length, depict distinct landscapes to epitomize Qi's five important journeys across the country in the early 20th century that greatly inspired his art. The scenes depict subjects typical of traditional Chinese painting, varying from a lonely boat, the blossoming lotus, pavilions hidden in trees and the moon rising from behind rocky mountains.

Qi completed the paintings in 1925, at the age of 62, a few years after he became widely recognized as an artist of note - Qi did not become well-known for his work until he was in his mid-50s. Lang Shaojun, a retired scholar with the Chinese National Academy of Arts, once commented that the paintings largely represent Qi's able handling of the shanshui (mountain-and-water) genre.