Last week's Asian Art Week at Christie's New York auction house proved yet again, that the unique Chinese art market is going from the strength to strength.
Their Asian art week had proved a resounding success with a total of $70.75m made across six different sales. Arguably the highlight of the week was the sale of "Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections" which took place over two days on September 16-17.
In total, this auction raised £22.3m ($34.8m) with 82% of the 542 lots on offer selling.
 The rhinoceros horn log raft cup |
The top lot at the event was a magnificent and very rare Rhinoceros Horn 'Log raft' Cup.
Dating back to the Kangxi Period of 1662-1722 this piece carried a target price of £770,000 - 1,150,000 ($1,200,000 - 1,800,000) but sold for £1,991,346 ($3,106,500).
The second highest lot sold was a magnificent and finely carved white jade cylindrical brush pot of Bitong which dated back to the famous Qianlong Period of 18th century China.
This piece carried a pre-sale estimated price of £450,000 - 580,000 ($700,000 - 900,000).
But yet again this price was surpassed with a final figure of £1,129,807 ($1,762,500).
Just behind this was the sale of a very rare imperial white glazed deep bowl from the Emperor Chenghua's reign over China from 1465 to 1487.
One of the few porcelain bowls to remain from this era, the inside of the piece featured marking in under glaze blue within a double circle that adds to its authenticity.
This rare piece surpassed its £192,000 - 321,000 ($300,000 - 500,000) estimate to sell for £755,448 ($1,178,500) to a private Asian collector.
Elsewhere, two separate lots exceeded their estimates to sell for an identical price.
The first was a very rare pale Celadon-Glazed compressed globular jar dating back to the Chinese Yongle period of 1403 to 1425. This artefact carried a pre-auction estimate of £192,000 - 321,000 ($300,000 - 500,000).
 The pale celadon-glazed compressed globular jar |
The second was an 18th century Chinese blue and white moon flask. Featuring a rare Yongzheng seal mark in under glaze blue, this piece carried a lower target price of £160,300 - 224,400 ($250,000 - 350,000).
Both collectible relics sold for £694,120 ($1,082,500) to easily surpass their initial valuations.
After the sale Christie's International Director of Chinese Works of Art, Tina Zonar, said
"Today's auction was a phenomenal end to Asian Art Week. The strength of the Chinese art market combined with an extraordinary group of works of supreme quality and exceptional provenance contributed to the record breaking total."
The two day event saw a total of 94% sold by value, thus reflecting the robust and growing market for the more traditional categories of Chinese artwork.
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