Zhang Daqian ranked best-selling Chinese artist

Brush painting artist Zhang Daqian topped the Hurun Best-Selling Chinese Artists 2013 list with sales of his auctioned works hitting 2.13 billion yuan ($347.3 million) in 2012, according to the report, released Thursday.

Qi Baishi was ranked second with sales of his auctioned works reaching 2.03 billion yuan, followed by Xu Beihong, whose works saw a combined hammer price of 1.33 billion yuan.

The top 10 artists in the list saw a combined turnover of their works hammered last year reaching 11.1 billion yuan, 44 percent of the combined value of those in the top 100.

Among the top 10 artists, only 58-year-old Zhou Chunya is focused on oil painting. Xu Beihong is widely known as talented in both oil painting and ink wash painting. The other eight are masters of ink wash paintings.

Chinese paintings and calligraphy works are among the most popular artworks for investors, followed by chinaware and oil paintings, the report said.