Masters of Chinese Ink

Fifty Chinese ink paintings spanning the 18th to the 21st century, united by a single remarkable thread: each work comes from a Czech private collection formed in direct contact with the Chinese art world.

At the heart of the sale are three collections with extraordinary histories. The sinologist Josef Hejzlar (1927–2012) acquired his paintings directly from the artists he befriended while studying in Beijing between 1951 and 1956. The engineer Bernarda Bartáková brought her collection back from China, where she worked as a technical adviser in 1955–1956. The third group was assembled by Ota Výborný (1924–1994), the first resident correspondent of Czechoslovak Television in China. All three have remained in their founders' families ever since and now come to the market for the first time.

The sale is led by three works of Qi Baishi (1864–1957), the most sought-after Chinese painter of the modern era. The most highly valued is Candle and Mice of 1948 — two mice beside a lit candle in the expressive xieyi manner, from the Bartáková collection. Beside it stand Shrimps, the master's single most celebrated and recognisable subject, and Basket of Chrysanthemums with a Grasshopper, a festive late composition from his eighty-eighth year inscribed Yannian ('Longevity') — the chrysanthemum being a traditional Chinese emblem of long life.

Close behind, a pair of paintings meet in the sale like unexpected siblings: The Sleeper in a Boat by Li Keran (1907–1989) from the Výborný collection — a fisherman dozing in his boat among the reeds — and the monumental Airing the Books by Huang Yongyu (1924–2023) from the Hejzlar collection, inscribed to the collector in Beijing in the summer of 1987. Painted nearly forty years apart, both share the same mood of gentle humour and deliberately careless bravura. Among the highlights is also a Galloping Horse by Xu Beihong (1895–1953), one of the most celebrated motifs in all of modern Chinese ink, given to JUDr. František Matal and his bride as a wedding gift in Beijing and kept in the family until 2026.

The sale spans the centuries, from court painting to the present day: among the highlights are a rare complete court album of scenes from the ancient ode 'Seventh Month', and Sandy River by Liu Guosong (b. 1932), a pioneer of modern abstract ink. Impeccable provenance directly from the artists is borne out by Quail and Millet by Li Kuchan (1899–1983), inscribed to Hejzlar in 1954, Wild Goose over the Reeds by Lin Fengmian (1900–1991) from the Bartáková collection, and Three Fish by Wang Qingfang (1900–1957), accompanied by a unique printed book of poems.

The sale closes with several works by Jiří Straka (b. 1967), one of the few European painters to gain recognition in China working in the traditional ink medium — bringing the story full circle from the Czech sinologists of the 1950s to today's living cultural dialogue.