Slow spring sales

By Lu Qianwen Source:Global Times Published: 2012-6-11 19:20:02

 

Council's auction on June 4, when ancient books of Guoyunlou were sold at 188 million yuan  
Photo: CFP
Council's auction on June 4, when ancient books of Guoyunlou were sold at 188 million yuan Photo: CFP 

 

Though exorbitantly priced art still sells at this year's spring auctions, the overall market has stagnated since last fall.

On June 2, when most auction houses in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland wrapped up this year's spring auctions, the total pieces auctioned reached only 137,600, half of last year's, with the overall transaction at 59,000 pieces and 11.55 billion yuan ($1.81 billion), 41 and 25 percent of last year's statistics respectively.

According to figures from the Artron Art Market Monitoring Center, there were 258,800 items in total available at the 2011 spring auctions, with the transactions turnover reaching 144.9, totaling 44.53 billion yuan.

"The art market is undergoing an adjustment period," said Wang Xiaowen, vice general manager of Beijing Googut Auction Co. Investors are more cautious in putting money in the art market, he told the Global Times.

Declining revenue

During Sotheby's spring auction in Hong Kong from March 31 to April 4, 13 special auction fairs were held, with 2,780 pieces sold.

Though the final transaction volume, HK$2.47 billion ($318 million) beat the public's expectation, the result declined from last fall, HK$3.2 billion.

Christie's auctioned about 2.22 billion yuan in its spring auction in Hong Kong that ended on May 30, shrinking 30 percent compared to last year's 3.05 billion yuan, the best then in Asia market.

"This year, many of the final deals were lower than the estimates," said veteran collector Tang Ju, signaling that sellers are anxious to sell their collections in a market that lacks confidence.

China Guardian Auctions, a leading domestic auction player, had similarly disappointing results. Starting on May 12, a three-day auction took in a total of 2.1 billion yuan, a 46.6 percent decline from last fall's 3.8 billion, and even worse, a 60 percent sharp drop compared to last spring's 5.3 billion yuan.

Pieces that failed to be auctioned included the painting Zaihetu by Yun Shouping (1633-90), a famous painter from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and Shiqu Baoji, an ancient book documenting the collections of books and paintings by Qing Dynasty royalty.

 Beijing Hanhai Auctions dropped to 1,572 pieces and 944 million yuan from last year's 2,653 pieces and 2.456 billion yuan respectively of the same period.

Meanwhile, Beijing Huachen Auctions and Tranthy Auctions saw a decline of 20 to 30 percent in the total transaction volume.

Crowd favorites

Despite overall lower numbers, some auctions were successful. At Christie's special fair for Chinese ancient books and paintings on May 28 in Hong Kong, the total transaction volume amounted to HK $205 million, a 52 percent increase from last year's spring auction, and the highest in Christie's history of auctioning Chinese ancient books and paintings.

Seventy-three percent of the auctioned lots were sold for higher than pre-estimated prices. And 89 percent of the buyers are from China, according to You Shixun, an expert of books and paintings department at Christie's.

"We noticed new buyers from Hong Kong and Taiwan," said You. "This is an addition that we are glad to see," he said.

During the 2012 spring auction of Beijing Council International Auctions that ended several days ago, all the lots for ancient Chinese books and paintings were successfully auctioned, with new bidders accounting for 30 percent of sales.

The encouraging result on one hand is due to the specialized collection of ancient Chinese books and paintings, and on the other hand signifies collectors' increasing interest in this market.

Dong Guoqiang, president of the Council said, "Many of the lots auctioned at millions of yuan were bought by newcomers."

According to Dong, most collectors of ancient Chinese books and paintings are professionals, since the market requires the strong capability to discern the authentic from the fake. He factors this as one of the reasons why the market is climbing slowly but steadily.

During Council's auction on June 4, a total of 1,292 ancient Chinese books from Guoyunlou, the private library of the Gu family of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, were auctioned by Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing and Media Group at 188 million yuan.

Along with the 28 million in commission fees, this set the highest record in ancient Chinese books.

Good deals

Given the overall unfavorable global economic situation, investors are turning to moderately priced lots, with domestic auction houses adjusting accordingly.

Shanghai Powerlong Auctions is one of the domestic auction houses that shifts its focus in this year's spring auction to moderately priced pieces. With 2,400 auction pieces divided into nine special fairs, 90 percent of the lots in Powerlong's final transaction reached 930 million yuan.

"Moderately priced lots are easy for trading and negotiable," said Wang Xiaowen.

Works by emerging artists are rising. Still Painting? by young Chinese artist Chen Fei sold at Council Auctions for 105,000 yuan, with a pre-sale estimate of 25,000 yuan.

"People are paying attention to young artists during the unstable economic situation," said Xi Mu, vice president of Research Institute of Chinese Art Market.

Thanks to their low-and-medium prices and potential, they are viable choices, said Xi.

He predicts the future art auction market will be polarized, with classic works showing their value, like Landscape in Red by Li Keran (1907-89) which sold for 293 million yuan at Poly's Spring Auction. Meanwhile low-priced art by young emerging artists will also gain traction.



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