Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fine Chinese Paintings Spring Sale 2012 achieved HK$468 million / US$60 million more than doubling the pre=sale estimate (in excess of HK$200 million / US$25.6 million*). The top lot of the sale was an exceptionally rare, large pair of gold screens by Qi Baishi, Willows At The Riverside; Begonias (1922) which fetched HK$70.1 million / US$9 million (Estimate: HK$15 – 20 million / US$1.9 – 2.6 million).
Qi Baishi, Willows At The Riverside. Photo: Sotheby’s
C.K. Cheung, Head of Sotheby’s Fine Chinese Paintings Department, commented after the sale: “Our ability to source outstanding works by prominent modern Chinese artists, many of them from private collections in Europe, the United States and around Asia, allowed us to put together a sale which saw spirited competition from Greater China and resulted in a strong sell-through rate and sale total of HK$468 million / US$60 million, more than doubling the pre-sale estimate (in excess of HK$200 million). The star lot of the sale was a very rare pair of gold screens by Qi Baishi depicting Chinese landscape and flowers which had spent much of its history in a Japanese collection. Executed at the height of Qi’s popularity and displaying his masterful technique, the pair was pursued by three very determined collectors and ended by tripling the pre-sale high estimate to sell for HK$70.1 million / US$9 million.”
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium
