The Collector | China Guardian and Sotheby’s going head to head in Hong Kong this autumn, as Chinese auction house expands in city
Chinese auction house whose owner is Sotheby’s biggest shareholder will stage its main autumn auction in the city at the same place and in the same week as its venerable competitor
Sotheby’s had better watch out. Its biggest shareholder’s own rival auction house is stepping up its game and taking on the giant in Hong Kong this autumn.
For the first time, China Guardian will hold its local auctions at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Wan Chai – the most coveted and hard-to-book auction venue in the city. It will have four times more floor space than its previous sales, at JW Marriott Hotel, plus a vastly expanded inventory in number and in categories, and it will be held in the same building and in the same week as Sotheby’s autumn auction.
The art market has tried to gauge the depth of China Guardian’s ambitions ever since its co-founder and owner Chen Dongsheng bought a 13.5 per cent stake in 273-year-old, New York-based Sotheby’s in 2016. The Chinese house’s management insist there is no conflict of interest for two reasons: Chen is not directly involved in Guardian’s operations, and he owns the Sotheby’s stake through Taikang Life Insurance, a separate business.
In sales, Guardian is a minnow compared with the two dominant forces in the industry – Sotheby’s and Christie’s – and even lags behind Poly Auction, its bigger domestic rival. It recorded 543 million yuan (HK$630 million, US$81.3 million) in sales last year against Poly’s 950 million yuan. Sotheby’s full-year tally was US$4.9 billion.