Auctions speak louder
After a slack year, the Hong Kong art market is springing back to life. Newer mainland auction houses are emerging as a threat to their Western counterparts, says Enid Tsui
The art market seems to be recovering its allure after a year in which no amount of wooing was able to rekindle the fervour of buyers. Sotheby's early April six-day sale indicated that the market had hit bottom last year.
The final tally for the auction house was HK$2.18 billion in sales. That was still lower than last spring's HK$2.5 billion, but up from the HK$2 billion seen in the autumn series.
Spectacular highlights such as local collector William Chak's HK$74 million offer for a Qing-dynasty falancai bowl also helped disperse the gloom, which followed a 38 per cent fall in Sotheby's total Hong Kong sales last year.
April saw a big surge in the Hong Kong sales of new arrivals Beijing Poly international Auction and China Guardian Auctions. The latter's top lot - Chang Dai-chien's Cottages in Misty Mountains - attracted more than 20 bids and settled at the above-estimate price of HK$27 million.
Auctioneers who have important sales later this month are cautiously optimistic. "I am no longer that concerned about the Chinese economy," says Carson Chan, managing director of Bonhams Asia. The British auction house is preparing for its five-day Hong Kong spring sales on May 22, which features an expanded contemporary Asian art contingent.
Jonathan Stone, chairman and international head of Asian Art at Christie's, says he is confident that demand for the group's May 25 to 29 sales will be buoyed by a surge in new buyers from across the region. Christie's Hong Kong sales fell by 16 per cent last year.