On 9 April 2013 Christie’s announced that it would be holding its first independent auction in Shanghai this autumn, having been granted a license to do so by the Chinese authorities. Christie’s will be the first international auction house to operate under its own brand in mainland China (although Sotheby’s holds sales in Beijing, it […]
Sotheby’s explosive Hong Kong 2013 Spring sales series took place earlier this month (3-8 April), following its announcement in March of a 10% decline in its overall international sales in 2012. The fifteen sales consisted of: 3 wine sales, 3 contemporary Asian art sales, 1 modern and contemporary Southeast Asian paintings sale, 1 2oth century […]
The heirs of Paul Rosenberg, an illustrious French Jewish art dealer working in Paris until the early 1940s, have requested the return of “Woman in Blue in Front of a Fireplace” by Henri Matisse (1937). The painting was confiscated by the Nazis in 1941 and existing documentary evidence would imply that it, along with a […]
Here’s a quick summary of Clare MacAndrew’s report on the state of the art market in 2012: Due to the economic climate of 2012 investors chose to focus on “cautious buying and selling”, acquiring top quality artwork by blue-chip artists. Success within the art marked has varied over the past year, with certain areas doing […]
Paintings to look out for at the upcoming New York Sale: Pompeo Batoni, Susanna and the Elders, est. $6m-$9m Francisco Goya, Portrait of Mariano Goya, the artist’s grandson, est. $6m-$8m Joseph Turner, Heidelberg with a rainbow, est. $4m-$6m Pietro Testa, Aeneas on the bank of the river Styx, est. $3m-$5m Pieter Brueghel the younger, The […]
Asian Art Auctions- Financial Times video released on 23 Nov 2012 FT Lex’s Richard Stovin-Bradford and Julia Grindell discuss the Autumn 2012 auction sales of China Guardian and Poly in Hong Kong, noting that Sotheby’s and Christie’s need to “look out.” In Grindell’s opinion, the two “state-owned” Chinese auction houses chose to hold sales in […]
The ones to look out for: Sandro Botticelli (1444/45-1510), The Madonna and Child with a pomegranate– est. $3m-$5m Sandro Botticelli, “The Rockefeller Madonna”: Madonna and Child with young St John the Baptist– est. $5m-$7m Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), The Madonna and Child, tondo- est. $10m-$15m Lucas Cranach II (1515-1586), The Virgin and Child with infant St […]
1. A RISE IN COLLECTOR CONFIDENCE: this should result from an improvement in the economic climate and a potential compromise in Beijing over import taxes on works of art. The establishment of the Tianzhu Free Trade Zone in Beijing this year will encourage collectors to acquire artwork overseas- presumably they will not need to pay […]
The Art Tactic report released in November 2012 revealed that confidence in the chinese contemporary art market had fallen by 35% between May and November 2012, having grown to US$33.8 billion in 2011. According to Jing Daily, this was the result of fewer consignments at auction (due to collectors choosing to retain their “top-quality artwork” […]
The famous eighteenth-century Qing Vase put up for auction at the west London auction house Bainbridges in November 2010 and “sold” for £51.6m (including buyer’s premium) to a chinese buyer who never paid up, has finally been bought for a price believed to be between £20m and £25m from Bonhams in London. The issue surrounding […]
alex kett 