Rooster and Hen

The recipient of this painting, surnamed Xie, was from an established family in Penang. In 1941, Xu Beihong was in Penang to exhibit his works. Madame Xie, along with her sister, befriended the artist and commissioned a work for each of them, one of them being the present lot. Xu also painted another oil portrait for Madame Xie, but its whereabouts is unknown after the Second World War. A sketch of Madame Xie is currently in the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum in Beijing.