Such is the case with twenty-four pieces of ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy, spanning nearly a millennium. Their ensured value is a vertiginous one and a half billion yuan - or about two hundred million US dollars. And they are on view now at Beijing's Poly Theatre. The works, from the provincial museum of Liaoning in northeastern China, offer revealing glimpses into the some of the most famous creative outpourings in China's venerable art history. The single most valuable exhibit on display is a calligraphy piece by Tang Dynasty calligrapher Ou-Yang-Xun who lived in the seventh century. The work shown here is believed by the master's admirers to reflect his creative pinnacle. The work is ensured at one hundred and ten million yuan, or around 14 million US dollars. Another highlight of the show is the calligraphy work by Tang Dynasty calligrapher Zhang Xu. Here, the brush strokes are looser, wilder, and are as entangled as the artist's unrestrained thoughts. Behind every piece lies a fascinating story. Researcher of Liaoning Provincial Museum, said, "This work was created by Lu-You, a Song Dynasty poet, at the age of eighty. The brush he used was made from the bristles of a chimpanzee, which gave the work some grit if you like." Disparate though their histories may be, these works share one thing in common. All were once housed in Beijing's Forbidden City, known today as the Palace Museum. Once they belonged to China's last Emperor. How they had, over the past century, ended up in a provincial museum in northeastern China is another tale. But for true art lovers, no amount of recent history can outweigh the intrinsic value of these works.