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)