Nun Stops Sale

Sotheby's Hong Kong has withdrawn from auction this charming painting Riding in the Autumn Countryside (1950) by Chinese artist Zhang Daqian, after a Taiwanese Buddhist nun, Lu Chieh-chien, claimed ownership. I thought nuns of whatever faith had to give up their worldly possessions. She claims she was given the painting by her father as a wedding present in 1983 and she entrusted it to her brother when she became a nun. He in turn entrusted it to an employee Shu Dun-sie. On the front of the painting is written "For the approval of my colleague Brother Gen-quan", the nun's father. It could be worth up to $1.6m (£1m). The nun has issued a writ for the return of her painting (CLICK). Good for her.