700-year-old Chinese scroll depicting drunk royals sells for $60 million in Hong Kong

A Sotheby's employee with the Chinese scroll, "Five Drunken Princes Returning on Horseback", dating back to the Yuan Dynasty. Photo / AP

A 700-year-old Chinese painted scroll from the Yuan Dynasty has fetched $60m (HKD$306.6 million) at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong.

The 2m

scroll, titled "Five Drunken Princes Returning on Horseback", is by Ren Renfa, a renowned Chinese artist and government official.

The painting depicts the princes riding horses, together with four attendants. One of the princes is Li Longji, who later became the longest-reigning Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty.

The scroll has been documented in imperial collections and bears a collection of seals, including those of several emperors.

In 1922, the scroll was transported out of the Forbidden City by Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, after the fall of the Qing dynasty.

The artwork was initially estimated to sell between about $15m and $23.5m. Many of Ren's 21 paintings are held in museums or owned by private collectors.

"This painting depicts the story of the five drunken princes after they had a very happy time, and then they got drunk and went back home," said Sally Fong, a specialist of classical Chinese paintings at Sotheby's.

"Among the five princes, one of them is the future emperor. In this painting, we can see that he was depicted as the one who can tolerate the drunkenness, to go back home together with the other drunken princes."

- AP