A Shanghai court yesterday rejected Hong Kong economist Steven
Cheung's suit against the widow and two sons of the late artist
Chen Yifei that claimed six of his paintings.
Although two contracts agreeing to pay debts with paintings were
accepted by the court, Cheung failed to prove the existence of six
works he claimed to have signed on the back, Shanghai No 1
Intermediate People's Court said.
Cheung's attorney Wang Guoqiang said they had not decided
whether to appeal or not. They were trying to find the contested
paintings, he said.
Cheung became well known in the 1980s for his support of China's
open-door policy. He was a friend of Chen, who set a record price
for a Chinese oil painting when one of his works sold for more than
7 million yuan ($927,000).
The average price of a Chen painting increased to about 4
million yuan after he died in 2005, aged 49.
Cheung said Chen borrowed money from him for a property
investment in the 1990s and promised to pay him back with 10 of his
paintings. The two signed contracts, but Chen failed to hand over
the paintings.
In 1998, Cheung, his wife and their driver visited Chen at his
studio. They were witnesses as Cheung chose six half-completed
paintings and signed his name on the back. The paintings were to be
handed to Cheung upon completion, according to the indictment.
In 2001, Chen informed Cheung he had finished the paintings and
asked him to pick them up.
But Cheung claimed he did not have an appropriate area to
display the paintings, so he left them.
(China Daily September 5, 2007)