Asian Art in London

It is Asian art week in London and there are numerous exhibitions and sales. Bloomberg has a good preview of the sales and exhibitions now going on and which end on Nov 13 in London. For the Asisan Art Week in London home page, click HERE.

One of the items being offered for sale is a Qing dynasty porcelain vase, painted with a dragon in purple enamels, and dates from the reign of the Emperor Yongzheng (see image).  The asking price for the vase is $25 million.  The Asian market remains very strong, and as the article notes, many Western collectors are getting priced out of the market as many items are finding their way back to China.


Bloomberg reports on the Asisan Art Week activity

Asian art raised 245.5 million pounds ($399 million) of auction sales at Christie’s International in the first half, a 121 percent increase on the same period last year.

“Western collectors are getting priced out of the market,” Giuseppe Eskenazi, 71, the gallery’s director, said in an interview. “I’ve got five people interested in the vase and in negotiations. They’re all Asian.”

Eskenazi is showing a dozen museum-quality Chinese pieces spanning three millennia at Asian Art in London, whose 13th annual edition opened yesterday.

“Fifty years ago it was passion that drove collectors,” Eskenazi said. “Now there is more financial reasoning. The explanation that the Chinese are buying so much because they want to repatriate their art is questionable. They are conscious of the investment side.”

To read the Bloomberg article, click HERE.