Auction houses have lots going their way

Beijing's auction industry is enjoying a record-breaking year and things look set to get even better with major auction houses announcing plans for more high-profile sales.

China Guardian Auction, the country's largest auction house, announced after its latest four-day auction in Beijing that its autumn sales had hit more than 4.1 billion yuan - a new record for a domestic auction house in a single auction season.

Among the 8,500 items sold in seven categories - including Chinese painting and calligraphy, porcelain, oil painting, sculpture and photography, jewelry and watches - were three sales of items that each sold for more than 100 million yuan. Fifty-two other items each sold for more than 10 million yuan.

"It is the largest record price since China Guardian Auction was founded in 1993," said Wang Yannan, president of the company after the latest auction wrapped up last week.

"The art market is attracting more and more attention and participation and the increasing number of new buyers definitely helps boost growth in the market."

Highlights of recent sales included a large brush painting by Chinese artist Li Keran that fetched 107.5 million yuan on Nov 22. The sale set a new world record price for artwork in the category of modern Chinese brush painting and calligraphy. Another head-turner was the sale of a Ming Dynasty Huanghuali six-poster canopy bed that sold for 4.312 million yuan after 36 rounds of intense bidding. The sale was a record in the huanghuali furniture category.

Some of the city's major auction houses - including Beijing Poly, Beijing Council, and Beijing Forever - have announced plans for their largest-ever auctions during December.

Beijing Poly's autumn auction, for example, will feature around 4,800 lots between Dec 1 and Dec 6 with an estimated value of more than 2 billion yuan.

According to Beijing Business Today, annual sales among the city's 76 auction houses last year reached a record 12.6 billion yuan, accounting for more than 55 percent of sales nationwide. And in the first half of 2010, the turnover of the city's five major auction houses had already passed 6.7 billion yuan.

According to Michael T.C. Wang, a prominent art collector and art dealer, it's the start of a new era.

It will not be a surprise if the record is broken again this year, said Beijing-based art critic Zhou Wenhan.

Zhou said the art market is becoming so hot, because capital is flooding in.

But he warned that the hot market is also likely to have crises of its own, including an increase in fraudulent transactions and defaults in payment.

"Such issues at the moment have already become quite serious, which will become more apparent in the spring auctions next year," he told METRO.