5. "All the Mountains Blanketed in Red"

A watercolor landscape by the 20th-century Chinese artist Li Keran sold for 293.2 million yuan ($46 million) at Poly International in Beijing, on June 3.

Executed in 1964, "Mountains in Red" was the largest of seven such landscapes inspired by a Mao Zedong poem. The result was an auction record for the artist, more than doubling his previous high.