A set of landscape paintings by Qi Baishi comprising of twelve folding screens returned to its birthplace in Beijing after 57 years, in the afternoon of March 18. They will be on display in Poly Art Museum from Mar 20 to Mar 28.

Among Qi Baishi's works, paintings comprising of four folding screens are the majority and those with six or eight folding screens are rare, while those with twelve folding screens are rarer still.

According to Liu Wenjie, who is a well-known collector, Qi Baishi produced three sets of twelve-folding-screen paintings, but only this set is still in circulation in the art market and it may be the most expensive Chinese artwork.

This set was created in 1925 when Qi Baishi was 62 years old. In Liu's view, this set is the most representative landscape painting of Qi Baishi's transition period.

"Having it would be enough to establish a collector's position," said Zhao Xu, executive director of the Poly Auction Company. He also estimates that the price of the painting will not be less than US$100 million.

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