798 District Blog

HONG KONG— In a sign of the continuing strength of the Asian market, Sotheby’s series of October sales in Hong Kong netted a record-shattering $HK3.08 billion ($400 million) as serious competition for rare, museum-quality Chinese objects sent the auction tallies soaring. Buyers from China’s mainland dominated the salesrooms to such an extent that some wondered whether there was enough supply to meet the spiking demand for historic Asian objects. Western art offered to test the market’s embraciveness, however, was largely overlooked. 

On Wednesday, a Qianlong imperial white jade “Xintian Zhuren” seal featuring a pair of dragons set a world record for white jade when it fetched HK$121.6 million ($16 million), over four times its high estimate of HK$30 million. Then Thursday’s sale saw its own new record for the most expensive Chinese art object ever sold at auction: a Qianlong yellow-ground famille-rose double-gourd vase from an English collection that sold for HK$253 million ($32.4 million), achieving over five times its high estimate of HK$50 million. It was purchased by Hong Kong collector Alice Cheng, who said that “as long you like something, even if it’s expensive, it’s worth it.”

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Collectors spent big money at Christie’s postwar and contemporary art auction on Tuesday, led by Jasper Johns’ pop art painting “Flag” from a collection that had belonged to best-selling author Michael Crichton, which sold for a record $28.64 million.

The $232 million total from the auction, including commission, marked the third consecutive night at which Christie’s and rival Sotheby’s met or exceeded pre-sale estimates for the annual spring sales. Of the 79 lots on offer, only five failed to sell.

Crichton’s collection, one of the season’s star estate sales, soared to $93.3 million — half again the pre-sale estimate — and achieved the highest ever total for a post-war collection, officials said.

While foreign buying has helped drive the market’s recovery, nearly three-quarters of the buyers were American, as expected for what Christie’s described as “a quintessentially American sale.”

Amy Cappellazzo, Christie’s international co-head of post-war and contemporary art, said the market, seemingly well on its way to recovery, now seemed “more sober.”

“There’s not this irrational exuberance,” she said, comparing it to the late years of the boom before the economic crash in 2008. “It’s strong, but selective.”

Well-heeled collectors showed enthusiasm, and readiness to pay, for rare works like Johns’ “Flag” and Andy Warhol’s “Silver Liz,” which fetched more than $18 million.

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Picasso’s 1932 ‘Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust’ is seen at Christie’s auction house in New York.

Related Link: Collectors and Auctioneers See Signs that Art Market is on the Verge of Solid Recovery

A 1932 Pablo Picasso painting of his mistress has sold for $106.5 million, a world record price for any work of art at auction.

“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” which had a pre-sale estimate of between $70 million and $90 million, was sold at Christie’s auction house on Tuesday evening to an unidentified telephone bidder.

There were nine minutes of bidding involving eight clients in the sale room and on the phone, Christie’s said. At $88 million, two bidders remained. The final bid was $95 million, but the buyer’s premium took the sale price to $106.5 million.

Conor Jordan, head of impressionist and modern art for Christie’s New York, said he was “ecstatic with the results.”

“Tonight’s spectacular results showed the great confidence in the marketplace and the enthusiasm with which it welcomes top quality works,” he said.

The striking work of Picasso’s muse and mistress Marie-Therese Walter has been exhibited in the United States only once, in 1961 in Los Angeles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Picasso’s birth. The painting, which measures more than 5 feet by 4 feet, shows a reclining nude figure with an image of Picasso in the background looking over her.

The painting had belonged to the late California art patron Frances Lasker Brody, who bought it in the 1950s. It had been kept in her family since then.

Part of the sale proceeds will benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., where Brody was on the board.

The previous record for a work of art at auction was $104.3 million for “Walking Man I,” a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold on Feb. 3 at Sotheby’s in London.
The previous high price for a Picasso work was $104.2 million for “Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice),” attained in 2004 at Sotheby’s New York.
On Wednesday, another rarely seen Picasso is slated to sell at Sotheby’s auction house. “Woman in a Hat, Bust” is a 1965 work inspired by Jacqueline Roque, the last love of Picasso’s life.
It is estimated to sell for $8 million to $12 million.

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The reign of Alberto Giacometti’s emaciated Walking Man I as the world’s priciest trophy at auction is likely to be short-lived. The six-foot tall bronze, which fetched an outsized $104.3m in February at Sotheby’s, London, is expected to be overtaken by a painting of Picasso’s lusty, lilac-hued mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, coming up for sale on 4 May at Christie’s, New York.

The 1932 Nude, Green Leaves and Bust bears the largest pre-sale auction estimate in history: an “on request only” $70m to $90m. But dealers say the painting may well hammer down for over $100m. It is from the same series as casino owner Steve Wynn’s celebrated Le Rêve, also 1932, which was sold to hedge fund manager Steve Cohen in 2006 for $139m, before Wynn accidentally plunged his elbow through the canvas and called off the deal. Christie’s painting has a third-party guarantor, so someone, somewhere, has locked in a bid for at least $70m.

If the Picasso performs as expected, it will be the second time in four months—amid a painful global recession—that the record for a work at auction is smashed. Until the Giacometti sale, the previous record, Sotheby’s sale of Picasso’s sensitive Boy with a Pipe, 1905, in 2004 for $104.1m, had lasted for six years, through a boom. Now, as the recession drags on, experts predict another record sale. How could this be?

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NEW YORK, NY.- This morning at Sotheby’s a record was set for a Classical Chinese painting sold in the US when Bada Shanren’s Two Mynas on a Rock from 1692 sold for $2,994,500 – many multiples of the $400/600,000 estimate, at the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art auction. Henry Howard-Sneyd, Vice Chairman, Asian Art at Sotheby’s said: “The price of nearly $3 million is a reflection of the compelling beauty of Bada Shanren’s Two Mynas on a Rock. We are thrilled to have set a record for a Classical Chinese painting sold in the US for this masterful depiction of two birds that has not appeared on the market for over 25 years. The stunning success of this and other paintings sold this morning again demonstrates the appetite for fresh to the market works priced conservatively.” Two Mynas on a Rock led the largest and most important selection of Classical Chinese painting offered at Sotheby’s New York for many years. Several of these paintings achieved superb prices including, Scholar by Zhang Daqian, which has not been offered at auction for over 50 years which sold for $902,500 (est. $120/180,000) and an Album Of Figures And Accompanying Calligraphy by Zhang Daqian (Chang Dai-Chien, 1899-1983) And Pu Ru (1896-1963) which sold for over 10 times the high estimate when it fetched $662,500 (est. $40/60,000). A new record for Chinese calligraphy sold in the US was also set when Calligraphy in Xing Shu (Running Script) After Zhong Yao’s “Zhang Le Tie” also by Bada Shanren sold for $482,500 (est. $100/150,000). After the first session the auction had brought $9,636,813, already exceeding the pre-sale high estimate by nearly $2 million.

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On the dawn of Nov.23, Wu Bin’s “18 arhats” fetched 169 million on the sale of Ullens’ Chinese calligraphy and painting collection in Poly autumn auction. It is a new record for Chinese painting and individual artworks.

Chinese ancient paintings keeping breaking the record reflects their real values and strong purchase power of vibrant market.