Sold at Christie's New York1992 (they published a small black and white picture of the painting); another painting of a giraffe attributed to Shen Du of the same size was sold at the same place in 1994 (no picture available)
Again sold: Tokyo September 2015 Auction
Expected to be sold for : RMB 400,000-600,000 (57000-85000 USdollar)
Inscription (left of the giraffe):
麒麟图。永乐十二年岁次甲午秋九月榜葛剌国进贡。华亭沈度写。
The first line of the main inscription: 瑞應麒麟頌幷序 (the title) Auspicious Omen Qi-lin begins with praises.
Second line from the right: 钦惟(qin wei). Translation: Admire only.
(1) year chia-wu: the Chinese did not count in periods of 100 years but in periods of 60 years. Then it starts over. Every year has its own name; so every 60 year that name is repeated. They do not start in (0 AD) but the 45th cycle starts in (4 AD).
The cyclical year chia-wu is the 31 sign. So it will start in 4+30 = 34 AD and will come back every 60 years: 34-94-154-214-274 etc. They do not mention the amount of cycles that have past. Instead they add the name of the Emperor in that year and how many years he had already reigned.
This system of dating is found in: Oriental ceramic art by William Thompson Walters p54-55.
https://archive.org/details/ost-art-orientalceramica00walt/page/n73/mode/2up
(2) Yung-lo: : The Yongle Emperor — personal name Zhu Di, or Chu Ti— was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.
The 12th year of the Yung-lo period starting in 1403 + 12 = 1414-1415
