In Hong Kong, Christie’s has made a remarkable sale in the Chinese Works of Art auction:
In an intense bidding competition which lasted 22 minutes (normally a lot takes one minute), the famous 15th century THANGKA was sold for a record HK$348,400,000 (US$45million). It was knocked down to Jinqing Cai, President of Christie’s China, who spoke in Mandarin. She was competing with François Curiel, Chairman of Christie’s Asia Pacific, who spoke in English. There were several other bidders on the phone and the packed saleroom several times broke into applause. This is a record for any Chinese works of art sold by an international auction house.
It was later revealed that the buyer of the THANGKA is Mr. Liu Yiqian, the well-known Chinese collector who is purchasing it for his recently opened Long Museum in Shanghai. Immediately after the auction, Mr. Liu on the phone said, “I am proud to bring back to China this significant and historic 15th century THANGKA which will be preserved in the Long museum for years to come.”
