The folks at Sotheby’s are rightly proud of the strong sale they held in Hong Kong this Saturday night opening nearly a week of sales:

SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG 40TH ANNIVERSARY EVENING SALE

5 OCTOBER 2013

Total: HK$1,132,470,003 / US$145,188,461

Estimate: HK$660 million / US$85 million

More than 600 filled the salesroom

Bidding from 25 countries

Records: Asian Contemporary Art, Living Chinese Artist, Zeng Fanzhi, Zao Wou-ki, Liu Ye, Pan Yuliang, Walter Spies, Ay Tjoe Christine, Chen Wen Hsi, Juan Luna, Cesar Legaspi, Georgette Chen and Rudi Mantofani

Commenting on Sotheby’s Hong Kong 40th Anniversary Evening Sale, Kevin Ching, Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s Asia, said: “This evening sale was a fitting achievement to celebrate our company’s 40 years in Asia. Our extensive global network of specialists sourced and sold rare, remarkable and fresh-to-the-market works from important collections around the world.  With more than 600 people in a standing-room-only saleroom, and many competing by phone as well, both new and established collectors responded enthusiastically to the unique opportunity to acquire works of superb quality across the categories of 20th Century Chinese Art, Contemporary Asian Art and Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art.  Bidding came from 25 countries in a sale achieved the highest total of any comparable sale in Asia, more than doubling the previous record*.  Five bidders competed for more than fifteen minutes for Zeng Fanzhi’s The Last Supper, a 2001 oil on canvas, and applause broke out several times before the work sold for HK$180,440,000 / US$23,273,151 and set a record for a work of Asian Contemporary Art and for the work of a living Chinese artist. The sale also set records for ten other artists including Zao Wou-ki, Liu Ye, Pan Yuliang, Walter Spies, Ay Tjoe Christine, Chen Wen Hsi, Juan Luna, Cesar Legaspi, Georgette Chen and Rudi Mantofani.”

 

*Previous record of any comparable sale in Asia: HK$492,660,000.