Art of the sale: Christie’s shuffles lots, adds strings for Hong Kong auctions
Amid fears of art market slowdown, auctioneers to hold first dedicated sale of Buddhist art, and first Asian private sale of rare musical instruments
News from the art auction market has been gloomy of late, prompting auction houses to look at new ways of presenting lots for sale.
On Monday, Sotheby’s third-quarter results showed it was losing less money than a year ago but revenue from its core auction business was still shrinking. Its share price has dropped 18 per cent since.
So it pays to take a long, hard look at market demand and restructure sales accordingly.
It is also putting on its first dedicated sale of Buddhist art, as well as the first private sale of antique musical instruments in Asia.
“They are both new and innovative categories to meeting the expectations of what our clients are looking for,” says Jonathan Stone, chairman and head of Asian art at Christie’s.
The “Art of Music”, which has been shown in Shanghai and will come to Hong Kong from November 26-29, is a selling exhibition of seven violins and one cello made by Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Bartolomeo Guarneri from the 1670s to the 1730s.
The “Transcendence of Buddha” sale is a feature of the upcoming week of auctions, and it stands out because of its cross-category nature, Stone says. “Sourcing was done by different departments.
We try and see things the way collectors look at things, rather than from the silos of Chinese art or Japanese art. This kind of thematic [sale is] very much the strategy we are evolving.”
Collectors are not necessarily Buddhists themselves, but appreciate the artefacts as works of art, she adds. Liu, who has just bought the Modigliani, is among China’s biggest buyers of Buddhist art. He paid HK$348.4 million for a Tibetan thangka last year.
Most of the pieces that will feature in the December 2 sale have been sourced from North America. “A great deal were exported to the West in the 19th century and they were fashionable then,” Tsang says.