Sotheby’s Hong Kong Evening sale of Contemporary art was more notable for the several artist’s records set for Shara Hughes, Nicolas Party, Louis Fratimo, Jadé Fadojutimi and Joel Mesler than for the top lots in the auction. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Red Warrior) struggled to reach the low estimate and Adrian Ghenie’s guaranteed The Death of Charles Darwin failed to elicit bidding. George Condo’s Whistler’s Father too had an uphill battle. Nonetheless, all sold and achieved good prices.

Yoshitomo Nara, Joan Mitchell and Cecily Brown a number of other artists sold well into strength.

Overall, the auction performed as estimated just missing the overall low estimate despite having 5 lots fail to sell. Only 4 other lots were sold at prices below the consignors’ expectations. A full 75% of the sale went to buyers willing to pay the estimated prices or stretch beyond. That included a strong 36% of the lots having been bid up over the high pre-sale estimate.

In an already heated market, these results are far from disappointing.