Sotheby's celebrates 40 years in Asia with auction of 20th-century Chinese art

Some of the greatest names in modern Chinese art are set to go under the hammer at an upcoming Sotheby's evening sale in Hong Kong.

The bumper line-up comes from a private collection and the single-collector auction, announced today, brings together works of a calibre that could see a few records broken in honour of the auction house's 40th anniversary in Asia.

On October 5, the spotlight will fall on the sale of works from the formidable Yageo Foundation Collection assembled by Taiwan connoisseur Pierre T. M. Chen. The foundation opted for anonymity and is only identified as "a distinguished private collection" for the purpose of the auction.

But the provenance of the paintings gives it away, as does the fact that the stars of the sale were shown at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in 2009 as part of the "Madonna Meets Mao - Selected Works from the Yageo Foundation collection, Taiwan" exhibition.

Fans of Zao Wou-ki will drool at paintings spanning an incredible five decades of the French-Chinese master's prolific career. A two-by-four metre triptych, 15.1.82, shows the master at his most lyrical and mature. There is a nod towards a traditional Chinese ink landscape, but the vision demonstrates the poetry of Zao's unique language.

Sylvie Chen, head of 20th-century Chinese art at Sotheby's, says the work is rare, as Zao's prodigious oeuvre of more than 3,000 paintings only features about 20 diptychs and triptychs. "The overlaying of colours and the composition make it an exceptional piece of work. This is likely to top Zao's auction record of just over HK$68 million," she says.