asian art | rumors about the chinese asian art market

is chinese porcelain as valuable as impressionist art?

sold for US$21.6 million,

the world record auction price for ming dynasty porcelain.

a blue and white meiping vase with fruit sprays | yongle period | ming dynasty

the meiyintang collection, part II | lot 11 | sotheby's hong kong | 5 october 2011
photo by sotheby's

sold for US$69.5 million,

the highest price paid for any chinese work of art at auction.

the bainbridge vase

a yang cai reticulated double walled vase sith six-character mark in underglaze blue of qianlong and of the period

lot 800 | bainbriges, west ruslip, middlesex, united kingdom | 11 november 2010

photo by bainbridges

but, rumor has it that...
the bainbridge vase hasn't been paid for...
the bainbridge vase isn't genuine...
the provenance of the bainbridge vase isn't real...
click here to read more about the bainbridge vase...

which could become more valuable?
a picasso painting

sold for US$106.5 million,

the world record price for a work of art sold at auction.

pablo picasso | nude, green leaves and bust | oil on canvas | 1932

property from the collection of mrs. sidney f. brody | lot 6 | christie's new york | 4 may 2010

photo by christie's

or,
a painting by chinese contemporary artist zhang xiaogang

sold for US$10.2 million,

the world record auction price for a chinese contemporary painting.

zhang xiaobong | forever naked love | triptych | oil on canvas | 1988

the ullens collection-the nascence of avant garde china | lot 808 | sotheby's hong kong | 3 april 2011

photo by artnet

henry howard-sneyd, vice chairman of asian art at sotheby's, votes for zhang xiaogang.

his 27 october 2011 lecture at the san francisco fall antiques show about collecting opportunities: the rise of the asian art markets could be considered controversial.

howard-sneyd believes that the bubble could eventually burst.  but, he also thinks that this is one of the great periods of artistic endeavor in china, so a correction in pricing probably wouldn't destroy the market for contemporary or traditional chinese works of art.

even though the demographics of the market are currently dominated by chinese dealers and collectors, in the long term, he thinks that western dealers and collectors are also very important.

but, howard-sneyd questions whether or not the phenomenal growth of the leading chinese auction houses, such as poly, china guardian, beijing hanhai, or council, can be believed.

according to published figures, the turnover in asian art at these four auction houses now dwarfs the turnover in asian art at sotheby's, christie's, and bonham's.

but, howard-sneyd also noted that, using data from xinhua, a chinese government news agency, a chinese newspaper journalist implied that the actual volume of these four auction houses could be closer to 25% of the published figures, based on the amount of sales tax that they paid.

all of the rumors seem quite controversial, don't you think?


rumor has it | adele | 21