Hong Kong Autumn Sales 2018

$65 Million Zao Wou-Ki Masterwork Highlights Triumphant Week of Sales in Hong Kong

• Zao Wou-Ki’s Juin-Octobre 1985 sold for HK$510,371,000 (US$65million).
  

  As the market leader of Zao Wou-Ki, Sotheby’s holds half of the artist’s top ten prices, including the artist’s world auction record. The standout result for Zao Wou-Ki doubled the previous record for the artist, simultaneously establishing a new record for any oil painting by an Asian artist. At HK$510 million / US$65 million, the price achieved makes Juin-Octobre 1985 the most valuable painting ever sold at auction in Hong Kong.
  
  
  Modern Art Evening Sale | Sale Total: HK$1.1 Billion (US$142 Million)
  Modern Asian Art | Sale Total: HK$78,347,500 (US$10 Million)
  
  
  Read more: The Largest Ever Work by Zao Wou-Ki Leads Sotheby’s Hong Kong Autumn Sales
  

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• The Falangcai Poppy Bowl sold for HK$169,413,000 (US$21.6 Million).
  

  This extraordinary bowl is arguably the greatest example of Qianlong falangcai porcelain in private hands. It is exquisitely enamelled on the exterior with an intricate design of poppies issuing from rockwork, with a butterfly depicted fluttering gracefully overhead, and a fourteen-character poem, and the interior with a finger-citron, apple and cherries. Other than a Yongzheng dish enamelled with poppies, preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, no other example is recorded with this design.
  
  
  Sales of Chinese Works of Art Total HK$854.3 Million (US$109 Million).
  

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• The Yamanaka Reticulated Vase sold for HK$149,091,000 (US$19 Million).

  The exceptional famille-rose reticulated vase decorated with four exquisite pairs of fish, included in the 1905 Yamanaka catalogue and preserved in a private collection for almost a century, ranks among the most complex porcelains from the Qianlong period ever to have emerged on the market.
  
  
  Sales of Chinese Works of Art Total HK$854.3 Million (US$109 Million).
  

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  A rare and important fancy vivid blue diamond and diamond ring sold for HK$ 108,447,000 (US$ 13,833,499).
  

  The Ai ‘愛’ Diamond, named after the greatest power of all, love, is a celestial treasure marrying the capabilities of nature and mankind to full display. With a shining internal clarity resonant of nature’s purity, reaching its utmost potential through the hands of a skillful cutter; the beauty that is the Ai ‘愛’ Diamond cannot be compromised nor compared.
  
  
  Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite | Sale Total: HK$315,247,000 (US$40.2 Million)

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• Joan Mitchell’s Syrtis sold for HK$56,513,000 (US$7,224,622).
  

  Vividly radiant, ardently tempestuous and charged with potent calligraphic grace, Joan Mitchell’s Syrtis erupts in an intoxicating torrent of exotic colours – one of the most strikingly hued Mitchell canvases to ever come to the auction market.
  
  
  Contemporary Art Evening Sale | Sale Total: HK$455,593,000
  Contemporary Art | Sale Total: HK$114,333,750

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  Zhang Daqian’s Self Portrait with a Tibetan Mastiff sold for HK$49,739,000 (US$6,341,772).

  Self-portraiture is an important and recurring theme in Zhang Daqian’s paintings. Measuring 6 feet in height, Self Portrait with a Tibetan Mastiff depicts the artist garbed in robes, with a scroll in hand. Beside him is a strapping Tibetan Mastiff sporting dense black fur, both fine and lush in texture. The background of the composition is filled with rich and thickly impastoed blue ink splashes of varying gradation, forming a kaleidoscopic shimmer which serves as a stark contrast to the jet black fur of the dog, against the gold paper background. The painting remained with Zhang Daqian throughout his life.
  
  
  Fine Chinese Paintings | Sale Total: HK$333,643,250 (US$42.5 Million)
  

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• Patek Philippe, Highly Important and Extremely Rare Pink Gold Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Wristwatch with Moon Phases, Retailed by Tiffany & Co. REF 2499 MVT 869438 Case 2637713, Made in 1971, sold for HK$23,520,000 (US$2,998,800).
  

  This exceptionally rare and highly important reference 2499 third series cased in pink gold and retailed by Tiffany is an outstanding wristwatch and is potentially the only one of its kind. In superb, unpolished and completely original, this 2499 pink competes at every level and must be considered one of the most beautiful and important watches they have ever made.
  
  Important Watches | Sale Total: HK$159,903,125 (US$20.4 Million)
  

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• Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès’ Around The Lotus Pond sold for HK$20,520,000 (US$2,623,277).
  

  Combining the best of Western Impressionist traditions and a reverent eye for the Balinese landscape and its people, the artist devoted himself entirely to the pursuit of beauty and artistry. Around the Lotus Pond s howcases Le Mayeur’s rich, continuously evolving technique and experimentation with color even up to the end of his career, and is a transcendent example of Le Mayeur’s lifelong affection for his spiritual home.
  
  Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art Evening Sale | 100% Sold. Sale Total: HK$69,505,000 (US$ 8.9Million)
  Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art | Sale Total: HK$62,161,250 (US$7.9 Million)
  

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• Bada Shanren’s Pine Tree and Rock sold for HK$13,320,000 (US$1,702,829).

  The works of Bada Shanren are primarily minimalistic, evoking a sense of play in their simplicity. One of Bada Shanren’s later works, produced in 1702, Pine Tree and Rock i s a classic example, where the artist represents the pine needles with sparse strokes of ink, resulting in a deftly executed and languorous composition. The painting is widely catalogued, and comes to the market with a distinguished provenance. Before entering a private American collection, the work belonged to Gao Yong, who was known for his collection of Bada Shanren artworks. It was documented not only in Gao Yong’s book on the artist’s paintings, but also in various influential publications including Shina Nan-ga Tai-sei published in Japan in 1936, Zhou Shixin’s Bada Shanren and His Art, and Wang Fangyu & Richard M. Barnhart and Judith C. Smith’s Master of the Lotus Garden: The Life and Art of Bada Shanren. For students and scholars of Bada Shanren, this painting is regarded as an archetypal work which perfectly encapsulates his artistic practice.
  
  
  Fine Classical Chinese Paintings | Sale Total: HK$39,001,250 (US$5 Million)
  

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• Le Pin 1982 (12 bottles), sold for HK$1,612,000 (US$206,078).

  Autumn Wine Sales Total HK$113 Million (US$14.5 Million).

  Sotheby’s two-day series of wine sales on 29 and 30 September 2018 in Hong Kong realised a combined total of HK$113,050,800 / US$14,452,470, bringing the year-to-date total for Sotheby's wine sales in Asia to HK$407 million / US$52 million.
  
  
  The Towering Bordeaux Collection Featuring Historic Vintages Of Latour | Sale Total: HK$37,399,020 (US$4.8 Million)
  
  The Wonderful Cellar of an Important Asian Collector | Sale Total: HK$27,425,080 (US$3.5 Million)
  
  Finest & Rarest Wines | Sale Total: HK$48,226,700 (US$6.2 Million)