Sotheby’s contemporary Chinese art auction creates new records

A triptych oil painting by a popular Chinese artist fetched a whopping $10.1 million in a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong, a record price for a contemporary work from China.
A total sale worth a $54.8 million of contemporary Chinese art was marked by a packed auction room with ferocious bidding for over 100 artworks. They belonged to the collection Belgium’s collector Baron Guy Ullens, acquired by him over several decades.

The star lot of the auction was Zhang Xiaogang's 1988 work, entitled ‘Forever Lasting Love’. It depicts half naked figures in an arid landscape filled with mystical symbols. It went for HK$79 million, over double its pre-sale high estimate. The sales price was higher than that paid for a canvas by Zeng Fanzhi (2008) of $9.5 million and a series of huge gunpowder works done by Cai Guoqiang, which fetched a similar price tag in 2007.

The Sotheby’s auction almost tripled the pre-sale estimate. Importantly, all works were sold. Sotheby's Asia chief executive Kevin Ching was quoted as saying: "This (sale) represents the whole spectrum of contemporary Chinese art. And I think everyone would feel proud to be able to possess a piece of that history, process and a part of that special vision."

Zeng, Cai and Zhang are considered among a vanguard of contemporary artists from China whose subversive early works were enthusiastically embraced by Western critics and collectors, driving a frenzy in the market prior to 2008. Experts stated the latest results were partly owing to Baron Guy Ullens's position as a Chinese art visionary. Ullens and his wife Myriam set up the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing for promoting Chinese avant-garde art globally.

The successful sale could definitely provide a symbolic and sentimental boost for the market. A collector, who attended the sale, mentioned this successful event as part of a recovery process, informing ‘the prices were too high’. New individual records were also achieved at the auction for Zhang Peili and Geng Jianyi for their works.