Korean Buddhist painting sold for .8 million at Christie’s

Korean Buddhist painting sold for .8 million at Christie’s. April. 22, 2016 07:41. by 김동욱 기자creating@donga.com.

A Korean Buddhist painting (see photo) was auctioned off at 1,805,000 U.S. dollars at Christie’s, setting a record price among old Korean paintings sold in global auctions. The highest price tag had been an old Korean porcelain jar with clouds and a dragon sold at 8,417,500 dollars at Christie’s in 1996.

“An auction for old Korean paintings was held in two years in New York on April 15 (local time). Though the estimate was around 40,000 to 60,000 dollars, it was sold at around 45 times the estimate price,” Christie’s Korea office said on Wednesday. “It will be an opportunity to reassess Korean paintings that have not received high prices so far.”

This painting was created at the request of Queen Munjeong (1501-1565), the second wife of King Jungjong. It depicts Buddha’s teaching to his students with gold on a purple silk canvas of 60.3 centimeters high by 101.6 centimeters wide.