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84-year-old Hergé painting expected to fetch between 2 and 3 million euro

What was to have been the cover design of the Tintin album The Blue Lotus is to be auctioned. The 35 cm by 35cm square painting that is painted in India ink, watercolour and gouache is expected to fetch between 2 and 3 million euros. It depicts Tintin hiding with his fox terrier Snowy in a Ming-Era vase, while a menacing dragon towers above them. Eventually it was decided that another design would be used for the cover of The Blue Lotus album.  

The work had been the property of Jean-Paul Casterman a member of the family whose publishing house publishes the Tintin albums in Belgium. Mr Casterman was given the panting by Hergé when he was just 7-years-old. It was inspired by by a picture of Chinese American actress Anna May Wong. The piece will be auctioned in Paris on November 21st. It is currently on display at the Brussels auction house Artcurial.

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