More investors are including paintings and sculptures in their portfolios as part of an effort to mitigate the impact of a volatile stock market and a skyrocketing property market.
This drive to invest in art has been underscored by the momentum in the mainland art market, which saw the works of some contemporary artists soar in price at the turn of the millennium, when such artists were emerging on the world stage.
'The market five to 10 years ago compared with the market today is very different. The 1,000 per cent jump in prices that happened between 1995 and 2005 are unlikely to ever happen again,' says Jonathan Crockett, of Fine Art Consulting.
'However, that is not to say that buying contemporary Chinese art is no longer a good investment. On the contrary, it certainly can be, but the rise in value is not guaranteed and it will not be as fast as before.'
Mainland contemporary artists continue to play an important role in the investment market.
Investors are eager to discover the next wave of artistic talent. 'When the market slowed down in 2009, artists began to realise that the boom days were over and were forced to start producing higher-quality and more interesting art. Whereas previously artists generally tended to stick with one thing if they found it to be a commercial success, there has been a surge in artistic experimentation recently, which is a good thing for the market in general,' Crockett says.