700-year-old Chinese scroll to go under hammer

A 700-year-old painted scroll from the Yuan Dynasty titled “Five Drunken Princes Returning On Horseback” is expected to sell for $10-15.5 million at an upcoming Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong. Once owned by Chinese emperors and painted by Yuan dynasty master Ren Renfa (1255-1327), the 2-meter-long scroll will go under the hammer along with other rare artworks on Oct. 8.

“This is a painting that entered the court collection in the 18th century, in the collection of the Emperor Qianlong. It will have the seals of Emperor Qianlong, his son Jiaqing and further emperors of the Qing dynasty,” Sotheby’s Asia chairman Nicholas Chow said at a media preview on Wednesday. The scroll shows the five princes and four attendants, who are also all on horseback in a dynamic scene.