Rare Chinese calligraphy scroll resurfaces after 81 years, sells for US$22.6 million

A rare work of Chinese calligraphy long presumed destroyed in the chaos of 1945 only to resurface 81 years later, fetched HK$177.45 million (US$22.6 million) in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The work called Jishi Tie, or Accumulated Time Letter, by early Tang dynasty (618-907) calligrapher Yu Shinan, went under the hammer at China Guardian Hong Kong’s autumn auction at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

It fetched HK$155 million at the hammer, with the final price including the buyer’s premium reaching HK$177.45 million.

“Today, it is a valuable auction lot, while one day it will be a priceless classic,” Jin Yunchang, a member of the Palace Museum’s cultural relics acquisition and appraisal committee, said at a symposium on the work in September, according to China Guardian.