Herge's Blue Lotus cover art headlines sale in Paris

An original piece of cover art for Herge's The Blue Lotus made $637,342 at Christie's Paris on March 14.

The work dates to 1978 and was published in Tintin magazine.

Tintin Blue Lotus
The Blue Lotus is among Herge's finest works

First printed in 1936, The Blue Lotus is considered one of Herge's finest works. The story follows Tintin's adventures in China and is credited with displaying a more enlightened view of Herge's non-Europeans than his previous work.

There is a definite shift away from Herge's right wing, conservative politics - which were often in evidence in his earlier stories.  

He explained this turning point in Benoit Peeters' book Tintin and the World of Herge: "It was at the time of The Blue Lotus that I discovered a new world. For me up to then, China was peopled by a vague, slit-eyed people who were very cruel, who would eat swallows' nests, wear pig-tails and throw children into rivers...

"I was influenced by the pictures and stories of the Boxer Uprising, where the accent was always on the cruelty of the yellow people, and this made a deep impact."

A set of working illustrations from The Crab with the Golden Claws also sold well, achieving $120,847. 

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