Zao Wou-Ki's Paysage dans le Lune (1955) will star in The Sublime, a major auction of his work at Sotheby's Hong Kong on October 2.

It's expected to sell for around $5.1m-7.7m.

Wou-Ki moved from China to Paris in 1949

The auction features 43 works executed between the early 1950s (shortly after he moved to Paris to study) and the early 2000s.

It includes everything from small works on paper to full size canvases. 

Wou-Ki (1920-2013) was a pioneering Chinese artist who moved to France in his late 20s. There he came under the influence of great European modernists like Matisse, Picasso and Klee.

Paysage dans le Lune was one of a series of works inspired by oracle bones, which were used as divination tools in China during the Shang dynasty (circa 1750 BC - 1027 BC).

They feature the first known Chinese script - the meaning of which has been lost to time.

The text that appears on the canvas is entirely invented but resembles the poetry that often accompanies Chinese traditional painting.

The Moon, a popular subject in traditional Chinese art, is another theme in the work. But Wou-Ki's treatment of the subject is very much in the tradition of European abstractionism.

Ailleurs (1955), another work from the oracle bone series offered in the sale, could make $3.2m-4.5m.

Wou-Ki's record is $14.6m, set for a piece titled Abstraction at a sale in Beijing in 2013.

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