Zeng Fanzhi's Last Supper sets auction record at $23m with Sotheby's

Zeng Fanzhi's The Last Supper has set a new record price for Asian contemporary art at Sotheby's on October 5 in Hong Kong.

Zeng Fanzhi The Last Supper record
Zeng Fanzhi has long been one of China's top selling contemporary artists



The piece was offered as part of the Hong Kong 40th Anniversary Evening Sale, which is one of several high profile autumn season sales held in Hong Kong by Sotheby's. Inspired by Da Vinci's famed mural of the same name, it sold for $23.3m.

The price represents a 54.3% increase on the previous record for Asian contemporary art, which was set at $15.1m by Takashi Murakami's My Lonesome Cowboy at Sotheby's in 2008.

Sotheby's saw further success with its Contemporary Literati: Early Ink Masters sale on October 5, which achieved a total of $3.2m, almost quadruple the pre-sale estimate.


Liu Guosong is a student of both tradition ink painting and western expressionism



Top lot went to Liu Guosong's Midnight Sun, a 1970 ink and colour work that made $805,128 - a 288.9% increase on the $207,000 high estimate.

Catering to a wide variety of collecting tastes, the auction house also offered wines direct from the cellars of Domaine Clarence Dillon, owner of the illustrious Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion and the St Emilion Grand Cru Chateau Quintus.

The auction realised $1.3m, achieving a 32% increase on the high estimate with 100% of lots sold. Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion saw the greatest success, with 123 lots selling for $533,503.

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