"Ink Lotus" By Contemporary Artist Tops Gianguan's Spring Auction At $16.5 Million

April 6, 2015

H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III's "Ink Lotus" sold at Gianguan's New York spring auctions on March 22 for $16.5 million, the highest price of any painting sold at the spring auctions, including Gianguan, Sotheby's and Christie's, surpassing by multiple times the selling price of works by renowned artists East and West, past and present, sold during auction week.
The artist is the highest world leader of Buddhism and has been recognized for his contributions to the religion with the World Peace Prize, the Presidential Gold Medal, and the Martin Luther King Award, among others. He is also a Fellow of Britain's Royal Academy of Arts. He lives in California with his wife and two children.
Buyers from various countries launched a bidding war over His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III's painting, which opened at $10,500,000. After several intense rounds of paddle-raising among the final few bidders, a U.S. buyer finally beat out his competitors and fellow bidders (hailing from Paris and also Southeast Asia) and won the painting at a record-breaking $16.5 million.
"Ink Lotus" with two artists seals, contains the artist's statement in calligraphy that translates, "An utter chaos strewn with broken strokes: a peculiar sight, yet wondrously endowed with a soul-soothing charm." The work is mounted, ink on paper, and ten square feet in size.
When an appraiser first unfurled the scroll and saw the painting, he declared with astonishment, "Dorje Chang Buddha III has arrived," a revealing sign of the extreme prestige of H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III's paintings.
H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III's limited edition reproductions also hold the record for the highest-selling reproductions, exceeding those of such world-renowned painters as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin. The artist's limited edition of 200 copies of "Carp in a Lotus Pond," for instance, auctioned at $380,000 for one piece.
Paintings and calligraphy by H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III are difficult to come by, and even more difficult to acquire. According to auction specialists, the International Art Museum of America has offered to purchase H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III's sunflower and water lily oil paintings for over $1,000,000 per square foot, but has yet to acquire the paintings due to unsuccessful price negotiations.
Art by H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha is expected to increase in value as the artist is now focusing solely on Buddhist activities and will no longer pursue painting.

 

More Articles