Asian buyers drive global art sales

Art prices globally swelled, lifting sales at Christie's to an impressive $5.7 billion last year, up almost 14% from the year before. The total, according to the London-based auction house included $4.9 billion achieved in auction sales apart from $808.6 million in sales that it brokered privately, as top galleries typically do. In effect, the private-sale figure doubled in a year’s time.

The auction sales of Christie matched those of its chief auction rival. Sotheby's stated it managed to auction off $4.9 billion of artworks last year, up nearly 14.5% from the year before. The auction house, which is publicly held, would be disclosing its private sales some time later this month.

Chief executive of the privately held Christie's, Steven Murphy, added investors and collectors alike view art as ‘a potentially safe haven’ for their precious money, especially at a time when the financial outlook broadly remains volatile: He reasoned, "Everyone now is doubling down on it (art). That is why the market is so strong."

Art values increased overall by 10.2%, according to Michael Moses, a renowned art-market analyst. His New York firm Beautiful Asset Advisors generates indexes to track major shifts in the art sale prices of thousands of works sold at auction sales more than once at least over the years.

Asia continued to flex its expanded purchasing power thanks to further influx of new collectors last year from mainland China. They ratcheted up sales prices for many of their hometown favorites like Qi Baishi and so also global mainstays such as Pablo Picasso. Almost 13% of the bids Christie's fielded last year came from prospective buyers in greater China.

No surprise, Asian art for the first time became the second-biggest seller category of the year for Christie's after contemporary art ($890.1 million sales). Its priciest Asian artwork last year was a scroll painting by Cui Ruzhuo's ‘Lotus’ at $15.9 million.

Dealers noted that the reshuffling of marquee categories from Christie's does reflect Asia's rising clout even while underscoring the dwindling supply line of Impressionist & modern masterpieces in the marketplace - the majority tucked away in museums.