Shanghai police said yesterday that 13 pieces of painted
porcelain by recently deceased artist Chen Yifei have been stolen
from his pottery studio.
Chen's wife, Song Meiying, reported the theft yesterday
morning?-- just four days after his death?-- and though
the value of the works is unknown, it is expected to be high based
on previous sales.
One of his paintings featuring the scenery of east China was
auctioned in Hong Kong for HK$1.37 million (US$162,000) in 1991,
then the highest price under any auctioneer's gavel for a
contemporary Chinese painter's work.
Detectives are investigating and declined to provide further
details.
Local media have been told that Chen's eldest son, Chen Lin,
would continue his business. Another son from his second wife Song
Meiying, a former model, is only five years old.
The pottery studio, located along a quiet side street off
Shanghai's Taikang Road, has been closed since Sunday, when Chen
died of a stomach disorder aged 59.
The black wooden gate of the warehouse-turned-studio remained
barred yesterday, but holes and scratches on it suggested that
someone had pried it open.
Two police officers were stationed outside and said the studio
was unlikely to reopen.
The pottery studio was opened in 1999, when local government
planners' ideas for developing the once factory district into an
art street caught Chen's imagination.
Chen started making movies in 1993, and was admitted to hospital
with gastroenteritis on April 6 while filming his latest movie
The Barber.
The film's investor and Chen's family announced on Wednesday
that Hong Kong director Ng See-yuen, Chen's friend, will complete
the work.
(China Daily April 15, 2005)