Boom in Chinese art has roots in traditional passion for collecting

In recent years, Hong Kong has become the theatre of an epic drama that comes back twice a year and lasts for a few days only: the seasonal auctions of Chinese ceramics and works of art. What makes these sales so riveting is the slew of records that they break, in addition to the discovery or rediscovery of fantastic works of art.

On April 8, a doucai "chicken cup" was sold at Sotheby's for the world record price for a Chinese ceramic of HK$281.24 million to Shanghai-based collector Liu Yiqian. Since the same cup was sold for HK$29.17 million in 1999 at Sotheby's Hong Kong, its recent resale yielded a return of 864 per cent over 15 years.

Auction houses combining with unparalleled commercial hype and scholarship have been very successful at tapping into wealthy mainland Chinese collectors' insatiable appetite for classical Chinese art. But, once the applause and excitement have abated, do record prices paid by Chinese collectors make sense?

Since the early 2000s, Chinese collectors have taken the art world by storm. In its latest report on the global art market, the European Fine Art Foundation estimates that the overall market for artworks sold through auctions and galleries amounted to €47.4 billion (HK$498 billion) last year, with the US and China coming first and second with 38 per cent and 24 per cent of the global market respectively.

In less than 10 years, China has become the second-largest art market in the world. The global presence of Chinese collectors with seemingly unlimited means is being felt in every part of the market: at auctions, art fairs and galleries, in Hong Kong, Paris, London and New York. No segment of the art market is more influenced by mainland collectors than classical Chinese paintings, ceramics and works of art. Tellingly, four out of seven prices above €1 million at French auctions over the past six months were registered for Chinese works of art.

There are several reasons to explain China's art rush. First, China's staggering economic growth has enabled the accumulation of wealth by an ever increasing number who invest in the best art works the international market has to offer, primarily Chinese art. Their motivations might be artistic as well as financial.

Secondly, Chinese collectors feel it is their national duty to bring back to the mainland artefacts which were scattered all over the world, partly as a result of Western countries' less than glorious deeds during the troubled last decades of the Qing dynasty.