Hong Kong Auctions

Bloomberg has a preview of the April 1 - April 8 auctions being held in Hong Kong.  The auctions included everything from fine wines to fine art to Harry Winston jewelery, and early expectations are for a week of sales totaling over $300 million. This also includes a Chinese vase at Sotheby's expected to sell for $23 million (Chinese vases have seen some incredible prices recently, it will be interesting to see how this vase does when it sell {see image}).

The Bloomberg preview gives a good overview of expectations and of the top lots, and touches on the desirability of Qianlong artworks.

Bloomberg reports

Hong Kong’s first major sale of the year will show that rising wealth in China is continuing to drive demand, dealers said. It has 3,600 lots, about 1,000 more than last April’s auction in the city, which took a record HK$2.29 billion and revived prices in most categories to pre-credit-crisis levels. China overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest auction market for fine art last year, according to research company Artprice, benefiting from the support of its government in Beijing.

The “Golden Pheasant” vase was one of the personal objects belonging to the Qianlong emperor. It goes on sale on April 7 as the highlight of the Meiyintang collection of 80 works that is estimated to fetch as much as HK$940 million.
Zuellig’s Collection

Meiyintang, which means hall among rose beds, contains 450 items assembled over the past six decades by Stephen Zuellig, a Swiss businessman whose family made its fortune distributing pharmaceuticals.

His collection provides an overview of the history of Chinese ceramics from their origins in the Neolithic period to the end of China’s Imperial reign in the Qing dynasty in 1911. The lots represent about 25 percent of the collection, said Eskenazi, who helped select the pieces for auction.

 To read the full preview, click HERE.