Rivals hammer out who's top dog in Asia
The desire to control the Southeast Asian contemporary art market has stirred centuries of tension between Christie's and Sotheby's, with each accusing the other of being 'low quality'.
In one corner stands Christie's, which has consolidated its Asian auctions - abandoning its Singapore and Taiwan auctions in 2002 and its Australian one last week - into two held in Hong Kong each year.
'I think [Sotheby's] is copying us. Now they also have Chinese and Asian contemporary art. We started two years ago while they basically just started this year,' said Ken Yeh, deputy chairman of Christie's Asia. 'If you compare the price per lot we are higher than them. Quality and quantity is equally as important for us. We have better quality in our sales and we provide better service.'
Mr Yeh, a contemporary art expert and specialist in educating VIP clients in Asia about how to collect and bid for art, took over local operations in mid-August last year to boost the Christie's Asian appeal. 'It helps that I'm Chinese and I speak the language ... especially when you are dealing with people from mainland China and Taiwan,' he said.
Mr Yeh added the Southeast Asian contemporary art collection at Christie's was so big that it is split into contemporary and modern categories.
To Sotheby's, however, this is the very reason why it believes Christie's is more concerned about quantity than quality. 'Christie's trade a higher volume of sales than we do - and that's intentional on our part. Our business is about quality,' said Robin Woodhead, executive vice president and chief executive of Sotheby's Europe and Asia.
'Market share is not as important for us. Being a profitable and successful auction house, we are the recognisable auction house at the premium end of the market and that is where we want to be.'
He said it was focusing on selling 'quality' Southeast Asian contemporary art to western clientele. Last month, it held its inaugural sale of Contemporary Art Asia in New York.
