A gold Ming Dynasty bowl and a set of paintings about China's feud with Taiwan are among the 1,400 items Sotheby's will offer in Hong Kong this week, days after the Chinese stock market reported a record drop.Sotheby's said it expects to raise more than HK$1.3 billion ($167 million) in its four-day sale starting tomorrow. Art dealers and buyers, such as Cai Mingchao, said stock-market volatility in China, sparked by inflation concerns, may damp demand, even for the top lots. China's benchmark CSI 300 Index has fallen 38 percent from its Oct. 16 peak and had the worst quarterly drop on record for the three months ended March 31."There's definitely more caution among buyers, especially with big-ticket purchases,'' said Cai, who runs an art auction house in China's southwestern province of Fujian and paid a record HK$117 million for a Ming Dynasty bronze Buddha in October 2006. "The mood's not despondent, but interest's been more tempered.''Asians accounted for 82 percent of the buyers at the second of Sotheby's Hong Kong auctions last year, said Rhonda Yung, the company's spokeswoman. Mainland Chinese accounted for 17 percent of buyers, Yung said."The Chinese are a force in Asian art purchases,"said Cai, 43. "Any pessimism on their part would affect the market."In Asia, more than Europe or the U.S., art prices tend to move in tandem with prevailing financial market trends, Cai said.Shirley Ben Bashat, who runs Opera Gallery's Hong Kong business, said traffic slowed in recent weeks. Johnson Chang, whose Hanart TZ Gallery specializes in Chinese contemporary art, said low- to mid-priced items of about HK$30,000 are still selling, though total sales volume has declined.