On April 7, 2007, before an overflowing salesroom, at Sotheby’s spring auction of Contemporary Chinese Art, Xu Beihong’s Put Down Your Whip, arguably one of the rarest and most significant Chinese oil paintings to appear at auction, commanded HK$72,000,000. This was a record for any Chinese painting at auction, as well as for the artist. Executed in 1939, the large-scale oil painting was completed during Xu’s stay in Singapore at the highest peak of his artistic powers. Inspired by an anti-Japanese street drama of the same title staged by Xu’s actress friend, Wang Ying, during Xu’s stay, the painting depicts Lady Shang before a crowd and captures the spirit of the Chinese people against the backdrop of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Xu, who followed Realism in his approach throughout his artistic career, was moved by the patriotic motive of the drama. He thus blended this sentiment with meticulous brushstrokes and delicately portrayed the female protagonist in the foreground while realistically and vividly rendering the audience at the background. The motive, date, theme and historical backdrop and the epic – all of these mark the painting as Xu Beihong’s most impressive work. Having disappeared from public view for the last half century, its exhibition at Sotheby’s marked the first time the masterpiece was on public view since 1954.Ms. Evelyn Lin, Head of Contemporary Chinese Art Department & Deputy Director, Asia, said, “This afternoon we set a new record for any Chinese painting at auction, trumping the previous record, also by the artist, by a huge amount. This demonstrates once again that collectors are willing to pay premium prices for seminal works. We are honored to have been entrusted to sell such a remarkable masterpiece, and we are very pleased that the painting will join a highly important collection.”