<p>Although bidding for the auctions in Hong Kong on Monday night came from around the world, the sales are also testimony to the growing spending power of buyers in Asia, a region that mostly escaped the global downturn last year and is now bouncing back rapidly.<br /><br />Both Sotheby’s and a rival auction house, Christie’s, say Asian buyers have emerged in recent years as a major force in sales not only of Asian arts and antiques, but also of other categories like top gems and ultra high-end wines.<br /><br />On Monday, a work by Liu Ye, a well-known contemporary Chinese artist, went under the hammer for $2.45 million, almost three times the pre-auction estimate. The painting, “Bright Road,” which shows a smiling, dancing couple with a blazing jet in the background, also set a record for the artist. It was one of six works of art that fetched more than $1 million at Sotheby’s sale of contemporary Asian art on Monday, helping to take the total for that auction to $18.7 million — topping Sotheby’s pre-auction estimate of up to $16.3 million.<br /><br />The sale, said Evelyn Lin, head of Sotheby’s Contemporary Asian Art department, demonstrated a strong return for blue-chip contemporary Chinese artists. At the same time, however, the market remains a long way away from getting overblown, Lin and industry analysts said.<br /><br />Sharp property price increases in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere have raised fears that bubbles are developing in those markets. The Asian modern art market, however, “still has a long way to go,” Lin said. <br /><br />Analysts at Nomura echoed this in a research note last week. Demand for Asian art extended to the other categories in Sotheby’s auction on Monday: sales of 20th century Chinese art and modern Southeast Asian paintings also did well.<br /><br />An Asian collector bought Lee Man Fong’s “Bali Life” for $3.24 million, more than tripling the previous record for the artist and making this the most expensive Southeast Asian painting ever auctioned.<br /><br />Sotheby’s sale of top jewels and gems on Wednesday is expected to raise a total of more than $47 million. The highlight of that sale is a 5.16-carat pear-shaped flawless vivid blue diamond, estimated by the auction house as being worth up to $5.9 million. <br /></p>
<p>Although bidding for the auctions in Hong Kong on Monday night came from around the world, the sales are also testimony to the growing spending power of buyers in Asia, a region that mostly escaped the global downturn last year and is now bouncing back rapidly.<br /><br />Both Sotheby’s and a rival auction house, Christie’s, say Asian buyers have emerged in recent years as a major force in sales not only of Asian arts and antiques, but also of other categories like top gems and ultra high-end wines.<br /><br />On Monday, a work by Liu Ye, a well-known contemporary Chinese artist, went under the hammer for $2.45 million, almost three times the pre-auction estimate. The painting, “Bright Road,” which shows a smiling, dancing couple with a blazing jet in the background, also set a record for the artist. It was one of six works of art that fetched more than $1 million at Sotheby’s sale of contemporary Asian art on Monday, helping to take the total for that auction to $18.7 million — topping Sotheby’s pre-auction estimate of up to $16.3 million.<br /><br />The sale, said Evelyn Lin, head of Sotheby’s Contemporary Asian Art department, demonstrated a strong return for blue-chip contemporary Chinese artists. At the same time, however, the market remains a long way away from getting overblown, Lin and industry analysts said.<br /><br />Sharp property price increases in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere have raised fears that bubbles are developing in those markets. The Asian modern art market, however, “still has a long way to go,” Lin said. <br /><br />Analysts at Nomura echoed this in a research note last week. Demand for Asian art extended to the other categories in Sotheby’s auction on Monday: sales of 20th century Chinese art and modern Southeast Asian paintings also did well.<br /><br />An Asian collector bought Lee Man Fong’s “Bali Life” for $3.24 million, more than tripling the previous record for the artist and making this the most expensive Southeast Asian painting ever auctioned.<br /><br />Sotheby’s sale of top jewels and gems on Wednesday is expected to raise a total of more than $47 million. The highlight of that sale is a 5.16-carat pear-shaped flawless vivid blue diamond, estimated by the auction house as being worth up to $5.9 million. <br /></p>
