New Era for Chinese art says Sotheby’s
Published April 11th, 2006
An 18th century antique sword fetched a record US$5.93 million at auction in Hong Kong Monday, ushering what experts hailed as a new era in the market for Chinese antiquities.
The Baoteng Sabre, one of a set of 90 ceremonial swords struck by the smithy of Emperor Qianlong during his 1736-95 reign, was snapped up by an anonymous mainland Chinese bidder, setting a new record at auction for an imperial work of art and for a Chinese sword.
The jade hilted steel-bladed weapon, which had a reserve price of US$1.04 million, was the first of the 90 to find its way onto the open market, auctioneers Sotheby’s said. “This heralds a new era in the Chinese art and antiquities market,” said Nicholas Chow, Sotheby’s specialist in charge of imperial art.
Chow said he expected the record bid to radically alter buying tastes in Chinese art, which had so far been dominated by so-called “blue-and-white” dynastic porcelain.
“The price it fetched was way above our expectations,” he said. “This is likely to spark interest in imperial Chinese art away from ceramics.” The same buyer snapped up a rare metal-plated satin suit of parade armor also owned by Emperor Qianlong for US$1.89 million, setting a record for Chinese textiles.
The sword and armor were part of a four-day sale of Chinese art, jewelry and porcelain that had a total reserve value of US$217 million, the most valuable sale of Asian art ever held. Sotheby’s has yet to calculate the total take for the four days of auctions.
Earlier, “Pink Lotus”, a simple almost child-like rendering of a bowl of flowers by contemporary artist San Yu, went for US$3.6 million, setting a record for a modern Chinese painting sold at auction.
In just a few years, Hong Kong has overtaken Tokyo as the Asian focus of the world art market, driven mostly by the emergence of wealthy Chinese in the art-buying super league.
