An ink-and-color painting by renowned 20th century artist, Zhang Daqian will be the star attraction at the Phoenix International 2016 Spring Art Auction held in Nanjing from June 21 to 23.

The event, held by the Jiangsu Phoenix International Auction Co, a subsidiary under Phoenix Publishing and Media Inc, will include a two-day preview and an auction.

The 134cm-by-68cm painting Green Valley After Rain depicts the landscape of the Chinese artist's Japanese residence in 1962. Zhang later gave it to his pupil Chen Huiying as gift.

Chen, 71, who currently lives in Australia, met Zhang Daqian in 1960, when she was an art student at the University of Hong Kong. The master was impressed by her talent and decided to take her on as a pupil after seeing her works.

Recalling her time as his apprentice, Chen said she was grateful to be a pupil of Zhang's and hoped his painting could return to his home land.

Zhang Daqian was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the 20th century. Originally known as aguohua (traditionalist) painter, by the 1960s he was also renowned as a modern impressionist and expressionist painter. His painting Peach Blossom Spring fetched a record of 227 million yuan ($34.49 million) at Sotheby's spring auctions in Hong Kong in 2016. Zhang died in 1983, aged 84.