Andy Warhol has overtaken Picasso as the world's most actively traded artist, said the French-based art-market database, Artprice, in its annual report on trends.Warhol led the 2007 table of the world's 500 most auctioned artists with $422.3 million in sales, more than doubling the year- earlier $199.6 million, Artprice said. Seventy-four Warhol works sold for more than $1 million, led by the hammer price of $64 million paid for ``Green Car Crash'' at Christie's International, New York, in May. Christie's is based in London.Sales of works by Picasso totaled $319.7 million at auction last year, down $20 million from 2006. Francis Bacon leaped to third place from 19th with $244.5 million, lifted by seven results over $10 million. The bestselling living artist was Gerhard Richter, whose works sold for $85.9 million, ranking him 12th.2007 was a veritable annus mirabilis for the art market,'' said Artprice.Thirty-six Chinese names featured among the top 100 contemporary artists in 2007 ranked by total auction sales. ``Bloodlines'' series painter Zhang Xiaogang was the world's second-most actively traded living artist at $56.9 million, pushing Jeff Koons, with $52.6 million, into third place.China had 75 sales of more than $1 million for local artists, helping the country become the third-largest auction venue, after the U.S. and the U.K. France dropped to fourth. There are now almost 100 companies holding prestigious catalogued sales of fine art in China, Artprice said.Global PricesOverall, global art prices rose 18 percent from a year earlier with total sales at $9.2 billion, up 43.8 percent from 2006, according to the report. There were 1,254 sales of over 1 million dollars, compared with 810 in 2006.However these exceptional price levels are starting to look like ceiling prices, particularly now that the economic outlook is clouding over,'' said Artprice. ``As Wall Street contracts there will be less cash directed toward million-dollar art sales at Sotheby's or Christie's.''Artprice said that once a decline starts, ``prices can unwind quite quickly.''