Sotheby’s four-day Autumn series of sales (October 6-9, 2007) in Hong Kong concluded, totaling HK$1,552,412,500 (US$200,077,459), which represents the highest-ever total for a series of sales at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The sales, which included over 1,100 lots of Chinese art, watches and jewellery, were estimated to realise HK$1.006-1.434 billion (US$129-173 million.) Patti Wong, Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, said: “The Autumn 2007 Hong Kong auction season concluded today is the most extraordinary the Company has ever conducted in this key international centre for the art business. We established a new Sotheby’s record for a series of sales of Fine Chinese Paintings, as well as the highest total in Asia for a sale of Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite. In addition, Sotheby’s has this week achieved a new worldwide record for sales of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art and also achieved the highest total for a sale of Chinese Contemporary Art, confirming the company’s leadership in this important new market.” Kevin Ching, Chief Executive Officer for Sotheby’s Asia, continued: “The remarkable series of sales Sotheby’s mounted this week in Hong Kong demonstrated the company’s ability to provide service to our long-established client base both among the International and Asian Chinese community, especially in Taiwan and Hong Kong, even as we continue to see new clients from these areas entering at all levels of the market. Earlier this year, in line with the company’s worldwide strategy, we opened an office in Beijing in order to enhance the service we had been offering from our existing Shanghai office to our clients from mainland China, an increasingly important area for Sotheby’s business. And indeed, this week’s sales saw a notable increase in participants from mainland China as both buyers and underbidders across a range of categories, which resulted in totals well beyond the pre-sale estimates, particularly in the paintings areas.” During this series of sales, Sotheby’s reinforced its role as a repatriation channel for treasures of Chinese heritage by mounting the ‘Lost Treasures’ auctions, which offered for sale remarkable objects formerly in Imperial Palaces many of which had been consigned from owners in Europe or the United States. The vast majority of these works were acquired by Asian Chinese buyers. The Autumn 2007 sale season began with the repatriation of a Magnificent Bronze Horse Head of Haiyantang in the Yuanmingyuan (or Summer Palace). The Horse Head had been scheduled for auction in the Hong Kong Autumn 2007 sale of Chinese Works of Art but was purchased privately by Dr. Stanley Ho to donate to China in a sale brokered by Sotheby’s for HK$69.1 million (￡4.42 million, US$8.84 million) - a sum which exceeds any auction price for Qing Sculpture.”