BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- A collection of 12 landscape painting by famed Chinese artist Qi Baishi (1864-1957) fetched a record 931.5 million yuan (140 million U.S. dollars) Sunday night at China's Poly art house auction in Beijing.
The set of "Twelve Landscape Screens" started at 450 million yuan and received more than 60 bids in 20 minutes. It was finally sold for 810 million yuan, with the total transaction price hitting 931.5 million after adding a 15-percent commission, making it the priciest Chinese artwork ever auctioned.
The set of paintings, featuring exquisite Chinese scenery, was painted in 1925. Each of the 12 paintings is 1.8 meters long and 47 centimeters wide.
There are only two sets of extant "Twelve Landscape Screens." The other is stored at a museum in Chongqing Municipality in southwest China.
