NEW YORK, NY.- Day four of Sotheby’s Asia Week sale series concluded tonight in New York with The Chew Family Collection of Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy totaling $13.3 million, doubling its high estimate of $6.6 million. The evening auction was led by Zhang Daqian’s Water and Sky Gazing After Rain in Splashed Color – a monumental scroll from 1968 making its auction debut – for which five collectors competed, with many more on the telephones, for nearly nine minutes. The exquisite work sold for a final price of $6.6 million, nearly four times its high estimate.

Xian Fang, Head of Sale for Classical Chinese Paintings at Sotheby’s New York, commented: “Over the last month, we have had the immense privilege of sharing the Chew Family’s vision, and their friendship with master painter Zhang Daqian, with our clients in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and around the world. It is with great pride that we achieved this magnificent result for the collection and, in particular, the highest price for a work by Zhang Daqian outside of Asia.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• Zhang Daqian Water and Sky Gazing After Rain in Splashed Color Ink and color on paper, horizontal scroll 100.5 by 192.3 cm., 39 1/2 by 75 3/4 in. Estimate $1.2/1,8 million Sold for $6,550,400

• Zhang Ling Scholar Gazing at Farmlands from a Pavilion Ink and color on paper, hanging scroll 145.7 by 770.4 cm., 57 3/8 by 27 ¾ in. Estimate $160/220,000 Sold for $615,000

• Ma Shouzhen Orchid, Bamboo and Lingzhi Ink and color on paper, handscroll 34 by 369.4 cm., 3 ¼ by 145 ½ in., Estimate $100/150,000 Sold for $495,000