In a recent contribution to Forbes, an interviewer got some time with Christie’s Jussi Pylkkanen who is always mindful to cultivate his client base. So here it is worth reading what Pylkkanen says here more for what it says about who he thinks are his best buyers than for what he’s actually saying about these markets:

The art world has changed; most top collectors buy in seven or eight different categories. Currently most international collectors come from Asia and they have the broadest taste. Asian clients don’t just buy works of art and paintings and fresh ink pieces by Asian artists. They’re now buying great European furniture, great American pictures by post-war artists, Picasso, Monet, and now moving into other areas where they’ve not been before-European porcelain, works like Meissen porcelain and even works by English manufacturers.

As these new collectors come into the market with a perspective driven by their own Asian culture, so the values of art in those areas change. Major institutions in China are seeking loan exhibitions of works of art from nations that perhaps they didn’t have close links with before.

‘Last Year I Personally Sold $3 Billion Worth Of Art,’ Says Christie’s Global President  (Forbes)