Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Christie’s First Online Asian Art Week Achieves Nearly $9 Million

Christie’s first-ever Asian Art Week Online totaled $8,952,625, establishing the highest total achieved for Asian art online-only sales with global participation from 22 countries. The top lot of the week was an important painting by Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009), one of his earliest explorations of the Falling Figure, which realized $975,000, achieving the highest price for a South Asian Modern + Contemporary work sold since lockdown and setting a new benchmark for the category in an online auction.

Tina Zonars, Co-Chairman of Asian Art at Christie’s, remarks: “We are delighted with the strong results achieved for our first-ever online installment of Asian Art Week, which established new benchmarks for the value thresholds of transacting online for all categories of Asian art. Throughout the virtual sale week, we had buyers from 22 countries hailing from across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the U.S. with competitive bidding witnessed for each sale. This lockdown period has been an unparalleled time of change and innovation. As an organization we are leading the way with innovative offerings and developing digital platforms that allow us to serve our clients to the highest standards possible. We now look forward to our fall season of sales beginning in September in New York.”
The top lot of the sale was an important painting by Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009), one of his earliest and most seminal explorations of the Falling Figure, which was presented for the first time at auction and realized $975,000, achieving the highest price for a South Asian Modern + Contemporary work since lockdown and setting a new benchmark for the category in an online auction. Other notable results included Maqbool Fida Husain (1913-2011), Untitled (Woman at Work), which sold for $300,000; and Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Frightened Head, that realized $250,000.

Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009), Falling Figure. Sold for: $975,000. © Christie’s Images Ltd 2020.