Chinese art buyers help Christie's to record sales year

Chinese buyers drove up Christie's sales by 14 per cent to US$7.13 billion last year, a record high not just for the British auction house but for any company ever in the art market.

In 2013, Chinese buyers accounted for 22 per cent of the total sales of Christie's, which saw a 63 per cent increase in the money spent by Chinese buyers, according to data released by Christie's yesterday.

"Our Shanghai auction [in 2013] demonstrated that there is a strong demand for international art among our Chinese clients and 2014 will see us bringing more art [to China]," Christie's chief executive Steven Murphy said.

"We are delighted to build on this momentum with two auctions in Shanghai this year in April and October," said Murphy from his office in London, adding the firm this year will also open a gallery in Beijing to host exclusive exhibitions only for top-end Christie's clients in China.

Christie's became the first auction house to win special permission from the central government to launch its wholly owned subsidiary on the mainland last April.

In September, it held an auction in Shanghai, the first to be run independently by a foreign firm on the mainland.