With 2019 looking set to be the Year of Reemerging Classical Chinese art, another venerable artefact from the Middle Kingdom’s golden era smashed expectations when it come up for auction at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong earlier this year. The collectible in question, Fourteen Poems on Planting Bamboo by Li Dongyang (1447–1516), dated back to the time of the Ming Dynasty and eventually changed hands for US$4.5 million – five times the original estimate.

For those wondering just how this handwritten scroll’s hefty price tag can be justified, a brief history lesson may prove enlightening. Li Donyang was something a distinguished fellow – a scholar, a poet, a painter a calligrapher and a holder of the highest level-imperial degree. Naturally highly regarded, his 14 poems run the length of the 10-metre scroll, with every character exquisitely calligraphed in the author’s distinctive cursive script. Even more impressively, it is virtually in mint condition, with only four characters said to have been lost in the five centuries since he sat down to work on it. A remarkable feat and one that, understandably, commanded a remarkable price.