Last week Christie's held its Asian week sales in New York City. Chrisitie's usually posts the individual sales results as well as a consolidated reported. Unfortunately the consolidated report is not up, so I will post on the three major sales of the week.
- The Connoisseur's Vision: Property from the Xu Hanqing collection totaled $13.14 million. The sale offered 128 lots, with 107 selling for a sell through rate of 84% and sold by value also of 84%. The top selling lot was Zhu Xi, Poems in Cursive Script, hand scroll, ink on paper selling for $1.76 million including buyers premium against a pre sale estimate of $1.5 to $1.8 million. It appears most of the top ten lots are headed back to Asia, with 8 being purchased by Asian private collectors, one Asian trade, and one listed only as private. This trend is seen throughout all three sales, and basically tells us who is buying and driving the sales.
- The second major sale was the Superb Jade Carvings from an Important European Collection. The Sale offered 36 lots with 27 selling for a 75% buy through rate, and totaled $8.6 million including buyers premium.. The sale sold an amazing 92% by value, and when you consider the there was a 25% buy in rate, means the values for the other items were rather high. Of the top 10, 8 went to Asian private collectors and 2 two the Asian trade.
- The third sale was the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art offering. This sale offered 573 lots with 456 selling for an very solid 80% sell through rate. The sale totaled $38.84 million including buyers premiums. The sale also showed a very strong sold by value rate of 89%. Again, given the number of unsold lots, the lots that did sell, sold well. The top selling lot in this sale wasA Rare Blue And White Ming-Style Moonflask, Qianlong Seal Mark In Underglaze Blue And Of The Period (1736-1795) Estimate: $500,000 - 700,000 Price Realized: $2,658,500 (see image). Of the top ten lots 4 went to Asian Trade, 5 to Asian private and one to a US private collector.
Christie's reported the following on the sales.
Michael Bass, Co-Head of Department, Chinese Works of Art, New York and Elizabeth Hammer, Specialist, Chinese Paintings, commented: “We were delighted with the enthusiastic reception of this remarkable collection and the strong results achieved across the broad range of materials. This was a tribute to the connoisseurship of the collector. The strong paintings results were led by the Zhu Xi calligraphic scroll, which realized $1.76 million. Exceptional prices were also achieved for works of art, particularly among jades and tianhuang carvings.”
Michael Bass, Co-Head of Department, Chinese Works of Art, New York and Elizabeth Hammer, Specialist, Chinese Paintings, commented: “We were delighted with the enthusiastic reception of this remarkable collection and the strong results achieved across the broad range of materials. This was a tribute to the connoisseurship of the collector. The strong paintings results were led by the Zhu Xi calligraphic scroll, which realized $1.76 million. Exceptional prices were also achieved for works of art, particularly among jades and tianhuang carvings.”
Michael Bass and Christopher Engle, Co-Heads of Department, Chinese Works of Art, New York “The outstanding results across the board for porcelain, furniture, paintings and works of art demonstrate the continued and remarkable strength of the Chinese art market. Once again, fine examples in all categories from private collections with distinguished provenance achieved exceptional prices. Spirited bidding prevailed throughout both days, led by strong interest from greater China and supported by North America, Europe and the whole of Asia.”
Tina Zonars, International Director of Chinese Works of Art, said: “We were fortunate to offer two important private collections, which were exceptionally well received. Combined with the strong and well-balanced works of art sale, this series of Chinese art auctions in New York realized our second highest total ever, culminating in full-year results more than 40% above those achieved in 2010. This illustrates the increasing momentum of the Chinese art market.”
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