Asian Sector Strength Continues in the UK

Over the past week or so there have been numerous Asian art sales in London.  The sales totaled a record  $168 million according to Bloomberg. This includes the sale of a Chinese Vase at $85 million with the next leading item a imperial jade carving of a deer selling for just over $6 million (see image).  The article states the most coveted Asian items are those associated with Chinese emperors.

Both Christie's and Sotheby's had successful sales, as well as Bonhams,Woolley & Wallis’s  (setting a sales record, at nearly $16 million) and Bainbridges which sold the vase.  

Bloomberg reports

Asian collectors are prepared to pay ever-higher prices for objects associated with Chinese emperors, wherever in the world they are offered, dealers said.

“China has always been the poor relation of Western art,” said London-based dealer Alastair Gibson, a director of Asian Art in London. “Now, it’s up there with Picasso and Warhol.”

Bonhams and Sotheby’s had totals of 10.6 million pounds and 14.1 million pounds, respectively, for their Chinese sales. Christie’s International Plc raised 18.6 million pounds, a 98 percent increase on November 2009, it said.

Woolley & Wallis’s 343-lot event on Nov. 17 raised 10 million pounds, a record for the auction house. Its Qianlong- period carving had been estimated at 400,000 pounds to 600,000 pounds. It was bought in the room by Xu Zhe Hao, a Cixi City- based dealer in Zhejiang province, who said he was bidding on behalf of a collector in Hangzhou.

Click HERE to read the full Bloomberg report.