By Li Hongmei
Sotheby's has rejected claims that an US$8.2 million Chinese calligraphic scroll it sold at auction in New York last year is a fake, defending its reputation as it seeks to gain a foothold in the fast-growing China art auction market.
The New York-based auctioneer issued a 14-page document authenticating the work by Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) politician-poet Su Shi.
It had been expected to fetch in excess of US$300,000. But the scroll, comprising just nine characters, went well past that estimate, going under the hammer for US$8,229,000, including a buyer's premium of 12 to 25 percent.
The buyer, Chinese art collector and businessman Liu Yiqian, was quoted by Chinese media yesterday as saying he believed the work was real.
Sotheby's rejected assertions carried in the China Cultural Relic News, written by three Shanghai-based researchers, that the more than 900-year-old calligraphic scroll was not by Su Shi, also known by the literary name Su Dongpo.
Sotheby's conducted its own review and said in a statement that an analysis of historical seals and brushwork showed the scroll "is of such a high quality that it could only have been created by a masterly hand using a soft brush."
It asked the researchers to provide a fuller explanation for some of their claims.
Sotheby's has sought to establish itself in China as a trustworthy seller of foreign and contemporary art, while avoiding the scandals that have hit the local auction industry. It held its first full auction on China's mainland in December.
The Chinese auction market, which peaked in 2011, was estimated to be worth anywhere between US$4.74 billion and US$12.10 billion in 2012, compared to US$9.25 billion for the United States and US$4.76 billion for Britain.
The three researchers first raised questions in December about the authenticity of the "Farewell Letter to Gongfu" or "Gongfu Tie."
Researchers Zhong Yinlan and Ling Lizhong argued that the scroll was traced, based on similarities between the auctioned work and some known fakes at the Shanghai Museum, where Ling works.
Shan Guolin, the third researcher involved in the controversy, also drew attention to what he considered to be the scroll's unnatural brush strokes.
The scroll is due to go on display later this year at the Long Museum in Shanghai, a private museum based on the collection of Liu and his wife, Wang Wei.
