This undated photo shows a masterpiece of the late famous Chinese painter Xu Beihong, Portrait of Jennie.

A masterpiece of the late famous Chinese painter Xu Beihong, Portrait of Jennie, is likely to fetch more than 100 million Taiwan dollars (about US$ 3 million) at a Christie's International sale in Taiwan.

An official with the auction house revealed the figure after a pre-auction show came to end in Taipei on Sunday.

The painting features a cheongsam-clad Cantonese woman, known as Jennie, in a rattan rocking-chair, her form reflected by the polished floor.

Jenny was a friend of the vice consul of Belgium in Singapore, who commissioned the portrait during Xu's sojourn in the Southeast Asian nation.

A work by well-known Chinese artist Li Keran, All the Mountains Blanketed in Red, is also among the exhibits at the show.

The painting, inspired by a poem of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong featuring a splendid landscape, is expected to be sold at 130 million Taiwan dollars (about US$ 3.9 million).

(CRI.cn May 21, 2007)

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