Sotheby’s Hong Kong held an evening auction of Modern and contemporary art on Saturday, the day before Art Basel Hong Kong closed. While the sale achieved results within its presale estimates, several long, empty pauses between bids reflected the cautious mood of the week.
Like its rival Christie’s, Sotheby’s aligned its auction calendar with Hong Kong’s fair week for the first time. Also like its competitor, it recently changed its location, moving to a venue it calls the Maison at Landmark Chater last summer. For two weeks this month, the house hosted a sculpture exhibition there, “Corpus—Three Millennia of the Human Body,” which drew around 35,000 visitors.
Most of the top results came for Western names. The top lot was a Marc Chagall painting that sold for HK$34.5 million ($4.44 million), and a Henry Moore sculpture sold for HK$20.5 million ($2.64 million)—new auction records for the artists in Asia. (Unless noted, sales prices include fees; estimates do not.)
The house said that the top five lots (by Chagall, Moore, Yayoi Kusama, Pablo Picasso, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir) were acquired by collectors from mainland China. There was also strong participation by Southeast Asian collectors, the house said, especially when it came to material by artists from the region. One online bidder won two paintings by Mai Trung Thu (1906–80), a Vietnamese artist who worked in France. Both hammered above their presale high estimates, selling for HK$6.99 million ($898,000) and HK$10.1 million ($1.3 million).
The sale also set new records for two Chinese contemporary artists: Li Hei Di, who recently joined Pace’s roster, and Ji Xin. Li’s 2022 painting Drifted Petals on Her Lifted Mound sold for around HK$1.4 million ($180,000), against an estimate of HK$500,000 ($64,000). Ji Xin’s 2021 painting Dawn sold for HK$2.54 million ($326,669), surpassing the presale high estimate at HK$1.5 million ($190,000).
Below is the story by the numbers…
Auctioneer Alex Branczik selling Li Hei Di’s Drifted Petals on Her Lifted Mound at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction, March 29. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Total Sales After Fees: HK$297.5 million ($38.2 million)
Total Sales of Equivalent Auction Last Year: There is no fair or direct comparison. Last year’s spring evening art sales, which took place in April, consisted of “The Now” evening sale and a Modern and contemporary art evening Sale. The two back-to-back sales hauled in HK$673 million ($86 million) with fees.
Hammer Total: HK$236.9 million ($30.4 million)
Top Seller: Marc Chagall’s Fleurs de printemps (La Cruche aux fleurs de printemps), 1930. It hammered at HK$28 million ($3.6 million), matching the fees-free presale high estimate. The work sold for more than HK$34.5 million ($4.44 million) after fees. It marks Chagall’s highest price achieved in Asia.
Lots on Offer: 46
Lots Withdrawn: 4
Lots Sold: 40
Lots Bought In: 2
Sell-through Rate Including Withdrawals: 87 percent
Sell-through Rate After Withdrawals: 95.2 percent
Presale Low Estimate: HK$230.8 million ($29.7 million)
Presale Low Estimate After Withdrawals: HK$203 million ($26.2 million)
Hammer Total vs. Presale Low Estimate: +HK$6 million (+$777,789)
Hammer Total vs. Presale Low Estimate (revised after withdrawals): +HK$33 million ($4.25 million)
Lots Guaranteed: 8
Lots With House Guarantees: 0
Lots With Third-Party Guarantees: 8
Total Low Estimate of Withdrawn Lots: HK$27 million ($3.47 million)
Total Low Estimate of Guaranteed Lots: HK$69 million ($8.87 million)
