When Hergé submitted his cover illustration for The Blue Lotus in 1936 the cartoonist’s publisher said it was too expensive to reproduce in color. But the gouache and watercolor illustration of a skinny dragon ogling Tintin and his dog Snowy curled up inside a qinghua vase, would receive late validation at its auction for $3.9 million in 2021.
Now the never-to-be-covered image of the Belgian journalist’s adventures through Japanese-occupied China is on sale again, this time as part of an NFT collection.
It is the first initiative of its kind from Tintinimaginatio, the rights holder and main promoter of Hergé’s work, and aims to integrate fans of the most famous comic strip into the Web3 world. To do this, NFTs are offered with exclusive collectibles, and the company has partnered with artèQ, the blockchain investment fund that has partnered with the Belvedere Museum to deposit Gustav Klimt’s NFTs in 2022and Crossmint, a blockchain startup that offers fiat payment solutions, meaning Tintin devotees can pay by credit card.
A certificate of authenticity for The Blue Lotus NFT. Photo courtesy arteQ.
There are two versions of The Blue Lotus NFT. One is a limited edition limited to 777 copies. The other a digital print limited to 1,777 copies. Number seven makes a nod to the subtitle of Tintin’s magazine which said: “The super newspaper for young people aged 7 to 77”.
Both versions include an NFT certificate of ownership, a booklet created by expert Hergé Philippe Goddin that explores the fifth volume of the Adventures of Tintin, and inside access to the next Tintin NFT release. The purely digital NFT comes with a trio of digitized editions of The Blue Lotus comic book and a unique family pass for the Hergé Museum in Belgium.
“The Blue Lotus marks a very important creative step in Hergé’s work, both in terms of graphics and storytelling,” Farbod Sadeghian, CEO of arteQ, told Artnet News. “As for the treasures [connected to the NFTs], it seemed essential to us to reveal the story behind this work. Hergé would be very impressed.
Hergé, “Tintin in America” 1942. Photo: © Hergé/Tintinimaginatio 2023
The NFT project marks the latest venture to expand Tintin’s modern presence, spanning films, video games, immersive experiences and dedicated stores from Shanghai to London.
The Tintin works of art market was regularly growth For yearswith an original black and white drawing for the cover of Hergé Tintin in America fetching $2.3 million at auction earlier this year. It remains to be seen how strong the demand is for comparable digital Tintin collectibles.
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