|
HOME PAGE |
LUXURY NOW |
WINDOW SHOPPING |
BRAND GALLERY |
CITY GUIDE |
LUXURY TRAVELER |
ARTS PORTFOLIO |
Auction houses are buzzing in the wake of new records for Chinese art, Middle Eastern art and wine, which were broken during the October sales, and this week’s sale of a Modigliani for $68.9 million. Is the art market booming again?
October 7
The most expensive Chinese art object ever sold at auction
A Quianlong yellow-ground vase from an English collection sold for $32.4 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Achieving over five times its estimate at Sotheby’s, this Quianlong vase was part of sale that saw buyers from mainland China competing for museum-quality Chinese objects. Its purchaser, Hong Kong collector Alice Cheng, said: “as long as you like something, even if it’s expensive, it’s worth it.”
October 26
The most expensive Middle Eastern artwork ever sold at auction
Mahmoud Said’s 1929 painting Whirling Dervishes fetched $2.5 million at Christie’s Dubai
Part of a stellar sale of modern and contemporary art, the painting was part of the collection of Mohammed Said Farsi, which was comprised 40 works by Egyptian artists.
October 31
The most expensive wine ever sold at auction:
Three bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild 1869 for HK $1,815,000 ($232,692) per bottle at Sotheby’s Hong Kong
The highlight of an all all-Lafite sale at which every one of the 284 lots were sold, the record breaking bottles were sold to an Asian bidder by telephone. Baron Eric de Rothschild, the owner of Château Lafite Rothschild which consigned the wine, flew in specially for the auction.
November 2
The artist record for Amedo Modigliani
"Nu Assis Sur un Divan (La Belle Romaine)" sold for a record $68.9 million at Sotheby’s New York
Doubling the previous record for Modigliani painting, this 1917 canvas was the highlight of the auction season’s opening sale of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby’s New York. In total, the sale achieved a more than healthy $227,561,000, confirming the return of confidence to the art market.