Autumn auctions rake in billions
2009-12-08 14:24:33
Tanzanian Cataract by Wu Guanzhong.
By Wu Ziru
Incredible new heights have been reached at China's autumn auctions. Traditional Chinese art has overtaken the soaring demand for contemporary Chinese pieces,as the country's leading auctionhouses end their seasonal sales with string of astronomical prices ¨C stunning art critics,collectors and dealers alike.
China's three domestic auction giants, Beijing Hanhai,China Guardian and Beijing Poly each managed to rake in over 1 billion yuan ($146.49million) in recent sales, with the latter two houses hitting1.53 billion yuan ($224.12million) and 1.57 billion yuan ($229.99 million) respectively.The massive amounts stand in stark contrast to last year's average figures of around $50million for each house.
Contributing to the astronomical results is not the wide range of contemporary works fetching tens of millions of yuan, but several traditional pieces selling for jaw-dropping prices of several hundreds of millions of yuan.
Among the auctions and an array of works ranging from paintings to antiques and luxury goods such as wines and watches, the hottest items were traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy pieces,with prices far outstripping their contemporary rivals that once dominated the market.
The highest price among allworks auctioned so far this season is a scroll painting by MingDynasty (1368-1644) renowned scholar and painter Wu Bin. Its old early on Monday morning for 169 million yuan ($24.76million) at Poly International Auction House's four-day autumn auctions that started Saturday.
Wu is famous for his landscape and figure painting and is also known for his secular interpretation of Buddhist saints and related subjects,which reflect the spirit and taste of contemporary intellectuals at the time. Among WuBin's huge body of work only 18 pieced have survived to this day and it is very rare to see any of them openly auctioned.
This groundbreaking sale is also the highest price that a Chinese painting has ever been sold for in the world. It broke the recent record set by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) artist XuYang's traditional painting sold last month by Beijing-based Sungari International Auction House for 134 million yuan ($19.63 million), which at the time stunned many people in the art auction world.
Wu Bin's ancient scrollthat sold for $24.76 million.
Aside from classic traditional paintings, Chinese calligraphy works are also enjoying sky-high prices this season.
A calligraphy work by Zeng Gong from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) made the headlines,fetching 109 million yuan ($15.99 million) duringPoly's auction, a massive jump from previous calligraphy records of just over 10 millionyuan ($1.46 million).
Zeng Gong was also a famous scholar and historian and is regarded as one of the Eight Literary Masters of theTang and Song Dynasties, which refers to the eight most brilliant essayists and calligraphers of the time.
Another calligraphy work that exceeded auction price expectations was a collection of handwriting from six Song Dynasty calligraphy masters and a Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) calligrapher, which sold for 100.8 million yuan ($14.77million) after fierce bidding atthe China Guardian Auction House sales from November18 to 23. The work fetched almost 60 times its starting price of 1.2 million yuan ($175,790).
A piece of calligraphy by Ming Dynasty calligrapher Song Ke sold for 68.32 millionyuan ($10.01 million) and Dong Qichang's piece auctioned for 44.80 million yuan ($6.56 million), the two sales signifying calligraphy's hottest market ever.
According to experts, since this year's spring auctions,2009 has seen a burgeoning demand in the traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy market. Among the 10 pieces that commanded the highest prices during the spring auctions, six were traditional paintings and calligraphy, with Ming Dynasty painter QiuYing's scroll Cai Wenji Returning to Han Empire reaching 89million yuan ($13.04 million) and topping the list. The scroll describes the moving scene of Cai Wenji, a Han woman poet who was forced to marry a Hun chief during wartime and later returns to the Han Empire with the help of Premier Cao Cao, a close friend of Cai's father.
The classic art market was markedly different in 2008. Last year's spring auctions saw contemporary works take five out of the top10 highest-price spots, with a traditional painting by Qing Dynasty painter Yun Shouping coming in at number 10.
Zhang Chaoqun, director of the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department at Sotheby'sHong Kong attributes this year's autumn auction success to the rarity of precious works on today's art market and an unsteady economic environment.
Bidders at one of Poly'sautumn auctions.
"Compared to contemporary works with the ups and downs of prices, the prices of those old works are much steadier and one will never doubt that one day he could sell for a higher price than today," Zhang commented.
Sharing the limelight at the autumn auctions were a range of red-themed works. Coincidingwith this 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a wide range of red-themed art drew a large number of collectors.
Chinese modern art master Wu Guanzhong's Scenery of theNorth sold for 30.24 millionyuan ($4.43 million), three times its expected price; Chairman Mao in Steel Plant by Jin Shangyi went under the hammer for 20.21 million yuan ($2.96 million).
"People are still interested in contemporary works," said Wang Yannan, president of China Guardian Auction House. "They are just not buying every contemporary art piece, but trying to choose some with interesting subjects, like red-themed works."
However, despite auction after auction, overcrowded with collectors and market researchers,Chinese contemporary art, that once drew keen collectors from both home and abroad, did not come close to its previous success.
Contemporary pieces by four of the genre's hottest artists, Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun, Wang Guangyi and Fang Lijun, whose works once commanded high prices among international collectors, frequently above tens of millions of yuan, were all passed in this time around.
Popular artist Zeng Fanzhi'sfamous Mask sold for 7.5 millionyuan ($1.1 million), far underits previous record of 13.44million yuan ($1.96 million).
Wang Huangsheng, director of the Art Museum of China Central Academy of Fine Arts,commented that the sharp decline in demand for contemporary works is partly attributed to the disorder and immaturity of the market itself.
"People flood to imitate works sold for high prices and collectors are tired of works with the same subjects and forms," Wang said. "Fresh ideas and originality are in need in the Chinese contemporary art circle."
