HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese painting from 1924 is expected to fetch at least $45 million in a Hong Kong auction next month. The estimate shows collectors’ appetite for art continuing to rise amid the economic uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic. Xu Beihong’s painting depicts a slave in a cave attempting to hide from a lion. The “Slave and Lion” is considered a groundbreaking work that inspired Xu’s later paintings and one of the most important oil paintings in Chinese art. Christie’s auction house says the painting is the highest-estimated Asian artwork ever offered at auction.
