Although the best specimens of Chinese paintings do not command the prices paid for the best porcelains and bronzes,there are many which are valued at tens of thousands of dollars.Very often this value is determined not so much by the quality of the painting itself as by the history of the painting itself.It is the custom for owners of pictures to inscribe on the margins,poemsor epigrams the pictures have inspired.In a famous collection one will often see pictures which are embellished by the poems or comments of a half dozen men famous in different centuries.Thus the picture acquires a great value through historical association.One may be able to visualize this by conjecturing the value of a Ruben painting which had been in the possession of Queen Elizabeth,Shakespeare,Washington, Napoleon and Queen Victoria and embellished by the comments and autographs of each of the famous owners.Although the best specimens of Chinese paintings do not command the prices paid for the best porcelains and bronzes, there are many which are valued at tens of thousands of dollars. Very often this value is determined not so much by the quality of the painting itself as by the history of the painting itself. It is the custom for owners of pictures to inscribe on the margins, poemsor epigrams the pictures have inspired. In a famous collection one will often see pictures which are embellished by the poems or comments of a half dozen men famous in different centuries. Thus the picture acquires a great value through historical association. One may be able to visualize this by conjecturing the value of a Ruben painting which had been in the possession of Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Washington, Napoleon and Queen Victoria and embellished by the comments and autographs of each of the famous owners