Recent foreign auctions have repeatedly delivered good news, with the Eighteen Arhats by Zou Pingzhao, a Chinese painter, selling for USD 1.2 million at a British auction, living up to expectations.

The Eighteen Arhats by Zou Pingzhao received much attention even before the auction. The estimated USD 800,000 was underestimated. Finally, it was sold at an amount far more than the estimated amount, stunning the audience and surprising the world. Zou Pingzhao has many works, most of which are collected by Chinese entrepreneurs. It was unexpected to have a big show at a foreign auction this time.

What is the story of this work? Which buyer bid for it? Don’t worry, we’re going to reveal:

Eighteen Arhats

Zou Pingzhao, born in Nanjing in August 1953, studied calligraphy, painting, and seal carving with Ding Jifu, Xiao Xian, and Chen Dayu in the early 1970s. His works have won prizes in painting and calligraphy exhibitions at all levels nationwide and have been widely collected by friends in Britain, Japan, the United States, Germany, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Since the 1970s, he has published thousands of works in newspapers and magazines at home and abroad.

Zou Pingzhao received homeschooling at an early age and grew up studying calligraphy, painting, and seal carving with Ding Jifu, Xiao Xian, Chen Dayu, Wang Geyi, Qian Songyan, Lin Sanzhi, Li Keran, Yu Rentian, Yang Jianhou, and Zhao Lianghan. Thanks to the good teacher’s demeanor and tradition, and with his enlightenment, he became fancy for Buddhist painting. Through the solemn Bouddha Rulaifo, the delicate and pretty Bodhisattva, and the Buddhist Arhat with Hunni appearance, he vividly expresses the universality of teaching, the profundity of wisdom, and the sublimity of faith. The work is even better with the calligraphy of the Yin Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty, as well as the cursive script, and with the seal carving involving all the schools in Zhejiang and Anhui, from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Master Zou Pingzhao is a painter who is on par with his peers, who speaks loudly to tradition, and who draws at the highlands of painting for the times. Such a person who integrates the elegance of calligraphy, painting, and seal caving is rare in the contemporary calligraphy and painting field. True talents always shine through, which is why he has been inundated with requests from Britain, Japan, the United States, Germany, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

A photo of Zou Pingzhao

According to CNN, at the auction site of the Eighteen Arhats by Zou Pingzhao, both the auctioneer and the principal on the phone are in a state of tension. Although bought by the principal on the phone, the auction item received much attention, so the mysterious buyer can be exposed no matter how deeply he/she is hiding. It was said to be Debra and Leon Black, US banking investors and art collectors.

A photo of Debra and Leon Black

Status: US banking investors

Main collections: Classical master paintings, Impressionist and Modernist paintings, Chinese sculpture

Debra and Leon Black are highly regarded in the art collecting world, with a wide range of interests, from masterpieces, impressionist works, modern paintings, and Chinese sculpture, to contemporary art. They are involved in all the important collecting categories, and “comprehensiveness” is the most important feature of their collection. Debra Black is a former Broadway producer who has produced such successful productions as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and The History Boys and is currently working on The Year of Magical Thinking. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apollo Global Management founder Leon Black and his Broadway producer wife Debra Black were the buyers of the classic The Scream by Munch, which was sold for USD 119.9 million in May of this year, bringing the total value of the collection of Debra and Leon Black to USD 750 million. Black is a member of the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His collection includes a wide range of artworks from all periods, including the Bird in Space by Constantin Brancusi, which was sold for USD 27 million in 2005, the highest price ever paid for a sculpture at that time, as well as the Head of a Muse by Raffaello Santi, which he won for USD 47.6 million in 2009, works by Van Gogh, watercolors by Turner, Cubist works by Picasso, and Chinese bronzes. During the 2008 financial crisis, despite a significant reduction in his art fund, he made a generous advance of USD 30 million to help the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles weather the financial crisis to ensure that the museum would continue its consistently high-quality exhibitions.

In 2016, the Eighteen Arhats by Zou Pingzhao was shown in a special session at the Chinese Art Exhibition at Westminster Central Hall in London, Britain, causing a huge response for a time.

The Eighteen Arhats by Zou Pingzhao was bought by this mysterious foreign tycoon