Public viewing of more than 600 traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy works, to be put under the hammer by the 300-year-old Chinese art house Rongbaozhai, is available at the Asian Hotel in downtown Beijing's Dongsi Shitiao before an auction on Sunday morning at the same place.

To buy or not to buy will be a consideration for many but for others -- like the majority of the city's art lovers -- it is more a matter of going window shopping. It is a rare chance to see such a comprehensive collection of works by modern and contemporary Chinese master painters and calligraphers together with some stunning ancient pieces.

The modern and contemporary Chinese painting part of the collection is itself a grand exhibition, with about 400 works by more than 100 masters representative of different schools throughout the 20th century.

The artists involved range from the older generations like Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), Qi Baishi (1864-1954) and Huang Binhong (1864-1955), to the late Huang Zhou (1925-97) and today's Fan Zeng (1938-).

Also impressive are small-sized pieces by some late masters with whom the public are not that familiar. The "Lotus" by Xie Zhiliu (1910-97), "Watermelon" by Zhu Qizhan (1892-1996) and "Portrays" by Lu Fengzi (1885-1959) are all fresh to the eyes and interesting due to their unique styling. Many of the pieces have an attractive price-tag of between 10,000 and 30,000 yuan (US$1,200-3,600).

Unlike some badly organized public viewings in the past Rongbaozhai's viewing is to be held in a decent venue with detailed bilingual illustrations.

Some exhibits are from the fabulous 19th and 20th century art collection of Rongbaozhai, the quantity of which has remained a mystery and caused much debate in the Beijing art circle.

Being one of a handful of companies allowed to focus on the art business before China opened up in 1978, Rongbaozhai used its privilege to collect large numbers of pieces by famous artists -- and many at incredibly low prices.

Unlike most other auction houses, which cover the spectrum of Chinese art, the company's auction house only deals in traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy.

Among the calligraphy works is an 11-metre-long scroll by Monk Hong Yi (1880-1942). It carries his admonishes on "entering" and "leaving" the material world.

The Buddhism master, once known as Li Shutong, was also a legendary artist and writer who "left" the material world for his religion at the peak of his youth and career. The scroll was written five months before his death.

(China Daily December 13, 2003)