China Guardian

China Guardian’s $50m Beijing Sale Reveals Shift in Market

July 13, 2017 by Marion Maneker

Enid Tsui follows up on China Guardian’s coup last month when it made a massive sale in Beijing of Huang Binhong’s Yellow Mountain (1955) for 345 million yuan (HK$396 million.) Huang hasn’t been among the platinum-plated names in Chinese classical ink painting like Zhang Daqian and Qi Baishi until now. But Tsui suggests there’s a bit more going on behind the scenes with this sale than simply the emergence of a new name in Chinese Classical painting.

First of all, the sale marks the arrival of China Guardian’s Guo Tong as powerful force in Mainland sales. Second, the Mainland is showing strength again after years of sales migrating to Hong Kong. Finally, the return of big prices in art in China itself may be a signal that other asset sectors are too clogged with government controls. The spillover is coming back to the art market.

Controls on capital leaving the country mean cash has to be stored in China at a time when there are fewer assets that can be accessed. The Huang was bought be a company, not an individual, adding to the speculation.

Here’s Tsui speaking to Guo: Continue Reading

China Guardian’s Co-Founder Talks About Her Party-Leader Father

October 10, 2013 by Marion Maneker

The FT wants you to know that one of the founders of China Guardian has ties to the country’s elite:

China Guardian’s rise has shone attention on Ms Wang and her background as a “princeling” – the term given to relatives of senior party members. When she worked at the Sheraton after returning from the US, she says nobody knew who she was.

“I don’t feel that someone should live in the shadow of their family, for good or for bad. I should have my own credit, my own identity.”Continue Reading

Golden Week in Hong Kong = $735m in Art Auctioned

October 9, 2013 by Marion Maneker

Chinese Art Auction

The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Chow tallies up the sales in Hong Kong this past weekend:

Collectors snapped up collectibles worth close to 5.7 billion Hong Kong dollars, or US$735.1 million, over the past five days, as auction houses Sotheby’s, Poly Auction and China Guardian went head to head in Hong Kong.

Sotheby’s, the world’s No. 2 auction house trailing longtime rival Christie’s, had the largest and longest sale among the three houses. Coinciding with the firm’s 40th year in Asia, the five-day bumper event generated more than HK$4 billion.

Poly, mainland China’s biggest auction firm and the third largest in the world, generated HK$989 million over its three-day sale. Guardian, the mainland’s second-largest auction house, realized HK$510.1 million over its two-day weekend sale event.

Records Broken at Hong Kong Auctions (SceneAsia/WSJ)

China Guardian Spring Hong Kong Sales = $37.7m

April 9, 2013 by Marion Maneker

China Guardian, one of the mainland’s leading auction houses, HKD 293,054,500 (USD 37,747,367), nearly 50% more than the pre-auction estimate.

Cottages in Misty Mountains by Zhang Daqian (above) sold for HKD 27,025,000/ USD 3,481,300 to a phone bidder after over 20 bids.
overall total achieved HKD 161,644,000/ USD 20,821,240.
The “Hong Kong Ink Painting” sale included a collection of work by 20 Hong Kong artists including Lui Shou-kwan, Liu Kuo-sung, Luis Chan and Kan Tai-keung, which are offered as a dedicated sale for the first time in Hong Kong, achieving total HKD 5.9 million/ USD 761,401.
“Classic Furniture of Ming and Qing Dynasties” and “Chinese Furniture from Hung’s Collection” sales on 5th April present an impressive collection of Huanghuali furniture from the Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Period and the 17th Century, both sessions realized a total of HKD 83,180,650/ USD 10,713,330.
“Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art” sale including a total of 80 pieces of ancient Chinese ceramics and artworks presented, spanning from the Shang Dynasty (17BC – 11BC) to Modern China. Total of HKD 42,320,000/ USD 5,451,396.