Consort Chunhui's portrait by Italian painter breaks record at auction

（china daily）ALargeImperialPortraitofConsortChunhuibycourtpainterGiuseppeCastiglioneoftheQingDynasty'sQianlongPeriod,thisweeksoldfor$HK137.4million($17.7million),thehighestauctionrecordforaChineseimperialtailoringportrait.

Theportrait,paintedbyItalianpainterGiuseppeCastiglioneandothers,wasauctionedataSotheby'sautumnsaleinHongKongonWednesday.

Asararelyseen,large-sizeportraitbyCastiglione,itisalsotheonlyknownportraitofConsortChunhuiinacourtrobe.IthastitlecalligraphybyEmperorQianlong,whichmayhavebeenwrittenafterChunhui'sdeathasawayforhimtopaytributetothedeceasedimperialconcubine.

ThepreviousrecordforimperialtailoringportraitsistheHalf-lengthPortraitofConsortChunhuibyCastiglione,whichsoldforHK$ 39.86million($5.14million)inMay2012duringaBonhamssaleinHongKong.

AsafavoredpainterofEmperorQianlong,GiuseppeCastiglionepaintedmostoftheportraitsoftheemperorandhisconcubines.ButasalmostallofGiuseppeCastiglione'spaintingsareinmuseums,theyarerarelyavailableonthemarket.