Unrest in the Middle East, natural disasters in Japan and the volatile equity market in the West have cast a cloud over this year's European Fine Art Fair (Tefaf) but dealers were quick to find a silver lining in the burgeoning Chinese economy.
Held in the Dutch city of Maastricht from March 18 to 27, Tefaf opened with a report that said the Chinese mainland had overtaken Britain as the world's second biggest market for art and antiques. From 2009 to 2010, it more than doubled in value reaching Euro9.8 billion (HK$99.2 billion) and a 23 per cent global share, says the report by Clare McAndrew, a Dublin-based arts statistician and consultant. The US still dominated with 34 per cent, but its margin has narrowed significantly.
'New buyers and sellers from China and other emerging markets have helped to protect the art market from some of the downside risk it would have been subject to had it still been reliant primarily on the UK, US and other mature European markets, and undoubtedly strengthened and accelerated its recovery,' continues the report.
'Looking forward, wealth and art buying remain highly concentrated in a very small fraction of China's population which is a strong indicator for the potential future growth in art sales.'
New Chinese buyers had certainly created a degree of buzz at The Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre, with a number of dealers putting their faith in the growing demand for art from the mainland. London-based dealer and the fair's chairman Ben Jannsens reportedly sold four pieces of imperial jade on the first night of the event, including one to a new Chinese client.
It was also noted that some of the Chinese buyers had cast their nets in less predictable territory, descending on Japanese works of the art dealer Malcolm Fairley, and picking out several moderately priced works from his stand.