Records smashed in Hong Kong Chinese Art Sales
Orla O'Brien, Wednesday, 8th April 2009
World auction records for many Chinese artists were broken in Sotheby’s Hong Kong sales on Monday. Despite the financial downturn, there is still a massive demand for certain types of Chinese art among Chinese wealthy collectors…. Lin Fengmian’s rare oil painting Fishing Harvest – on the market for the first time – sold for HK $16.34 million – a record sale price for the artist. The sale fetched $88.6m (HK$691) overall, 11 percent higher than its pre-sale estimate.
In a separate sale, four of Lin Fengmian's portraits sold for $3.1 million – a price that was a great deal in excess of the pre-sale estimates. Of particular note was the sale of Mu Guiying taking Command that sold for more than four times its estimate. Another record was broken by Zhu Yuanzhi, whose painting The Last Supper sold for $1.1 million (above).
Experts reasoned that the record sales could be a combination of cheaper valuations, more realistic estimates and a more select number of paintings included in the sale, which did not include any major blockbuster works.
Elsewhere bidding was strong in the 'Eight Treasures' sale which saw a European-sourced collection of imperial porcelain completely sold. A pear-shaped celadon vase from the Qing dynasty sold for $HK47.7m, a world auction record for Qing monochrome porcelain.
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