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Asian art shines at New York auctions
2007-09-23
From 19th century Chinese erotica to contemporary Indian paintings, hundreds of Asian artworks went under the hammer in New York this week, with records falling for several leading artists. One of the highest-profile sales of the week was Sotheby's contemporary Chinese, Japanese and Korean artworks on Thursday. The sale saw the record for a work by Chinese symbolist painter Zhang Xiaogang tumble twice, with his "Bloodline Series: Comrade," from 1995 selling for 2.5 million dollars -- four times more than its top estimate. The record did not last long as an anonymous bidder picked up "Chapter of a New century -- Birth of the People's Republic of China," for 3.06 million dollars, more than half a million dollars above its upper estimate. "In today's dynamic sale we saw a market that is continuing to expand, with a greater depth and diversity in the artists achieving high prices," said Xiaoming Zhang, a specialist in Chinese contemporary art at Sotheby's. Among other top lots in the sale was a work by cynical realist Yue Minjun, whose "Infanta," in his familiar style depicting subjects with a toothy smile, sold to a private Asian collector for just under two million dollars. A work by Fang Lijun, one of the founders of the cynical realist movement, entitled "98.10.1" sold for 1.7 million dollars, a record for the artist. Other highlights of the week included Chinese contemporary art and a collection of 18th century Chinese snuff bottles at Christie's that fetched just short of four million dollars. The 107 snuff bottles known as the Meriem collection belonged to Canadian philanthropist and collector Mary Margaret Young, who died in 2005. The intricately-decorated enamel works are becoming increasingly popular with international collectors, according to Christie's specialist Jen Lyn Low. Among the leading south Asian modern and contemporary artworks that found buyers were paintings by Indian artists Maqbool Fida Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Francis Newton Souza. Mehta's 1996 work "Mahisasura," depicting the Hindu goddess Durga and a buffalo demon, was the highlight at Christie's South Asian sale on Thursday, going for 1.1 million dollars. Among the top lots at Sotheby's sale of Chinese ceramics and works of art on Tuesday were two Qing dynasty bronze figures, which sold for 1.1 million dollars, disappointingly below the lower estimate of 1.3 million. A rare 13th century Tibetan Buddhist bronze figure also at Sotheby's, which had been expected to reach in excess of 3.5 million dollars and was considered one of the highlights of the week, failed to even find a buyer. Among the Chinese ceramics, jades and sculptures on the block at Christie's on Wednesday was a 12th century gilt-bronze figure from Yunnan province that went for 1.9 million dollars, almost five times its lower estimate. The auction house said ahead of the auction that interest in Chinese works was currently strong among collectors from America, Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, despite some jitters in the US economy. "It doesn't really affect us because people who have money still have money and if they're looking for something great, they going to go and buy it," Athena Zonars, the head of Chinese works of art, explained. "It's getting so much harder to find great things, so if there's something really rare, they're going to find the money to buy it." She said that while mainland Chinese collectors were buying into the lower and middle sections of the market, European, American and Hong Kong and Taiwanese collectors were still dominating the top tiers. "They don't really have the confidence to buy at the really high end yet. They're still learning and experimenting," she said.
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