Phillips Up, Christie’s Down in Hong Kong’s Spring Sales
Phillips Asia chairman and auctioneer Jonathan Crockett selling Jean-Michel Basquiat's Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari (1982). Courtesy Phillips.
Hong Kong‘s spring auctions took place last week under the cloud of Christie’s user data hack.
Phillips’ Evening and Day sales of Modern and Contemporary art brought in a combined H.K. $296 million (U.S. $38 million), up 22 percent on the previous season.
Sell through rates were high at 97% by value in both the day and evening sales.
Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari (1982) led the way, fetching H.K. $98.7 million (U.S. $12.6M), towards the lower end of its estimate range of $90 million to $120 million.
Banksy’s The Leopard and Lamb (2016) performed well, selling for H.K. $36.8 million (U.S. $4.7 million), well above the high estimate of $28 million.
Christie’s sales of 20th and 21st century art, meanwhile, generated sales of H.K. $967 million (U.S. $124.4 million) compared to last year’s H.K. $1.24 billion (U.S. $159 million), a decline of 22%.
Andy Warhol‘s Flowers (1964) led sales, bringing in H.K. $66.6 million (U.S. $8.5 million). Zao Wou-Ki‘s 10.01.68 (1968) fetched H.K. $63 million (U.S. $8.1 million) and Yayoi Kusama‘s Pumpkin (1987) netted H.K. $49 million ($6.3 million).
Altogether, Christie’s sold 22 works for over H.K. $10 million (U.S. $1.3 million), a decrease from 36 last year.
Unsold works included two paintings by Nicolas Party and a Wayne Thiebaud, all with estimates above H.K. $22 million (U.S. $2.5 million).
Exceeding expectations, at almost twice their high estimates, was a Salvo for H.K. $3.2 million (around U.S. $409,000) and a Marina Perez Simao painting for H.K. $2.1 million (around U.S. $268,000). Miriam Cahn, Lee Bae, and Xia Yu also sold above their high estimates, among others.
New records were set for artists including Japan’s Ay-o, U.K.‘s Sholto Blissett, Colombia’s Daniel Correa Mejia, and Korea’s Rhee Seundja, whose La Montagne Sans Ombre (The Mountain without Shadow) (1962) sold for H.K $8.2 million, well above its high-estimate of H.K. $6 million.
While Sotheby’s didn’t hold an art auction in Hong Kong last month, their Modern & Contemporary Art sale in Singapore is fast approaching on 9 June. It’s led by Anita Magsaysay-Ho‘s Paghuhuli Ng Mga Manok (Catching Chickens) (1962). —[O]
Main image: Phillips Asia chairman and auctioneer Jonathan Crockett selling Jean-Michel Basquiat's Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari (1982). Courtesy Phillips.
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