Cat and Bird,Sanyu

A painting by Chinese artist Sanyu fetched a record HK$42.1 ($5.4 million) at a Hong Kong auction as bidders fought for lots, betting that the worst of Asia’s art-market slump is over.

Of the 38 lots offered yesterday at Christie’s International’s top selection of Asian art, 34 sold, raising a combined HK$181.7 million, according to the London-based auction house. That’s about twice the company’s presale estimate, said Kate Malin, a Christie’s spokeswoman. The 1950s oil painting “Cat and Birds,” the top lot, achieved a record price at auction for a work by deceased painter Sanyu.

“The results speak for themselves,” Michael Wang, chief executive of My Humble House Art Space and one of Asia’s top art collectors, said in an interview at the sale. “It’s a huge success. This auction tells me the slump in Asia’s artworks has ended.”

In the eight months following the Sept. 15 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which triggered a global credit crisis, Christie’s and rival Sotheby’s had missed targets in Hong Kong by as much as much half. Hong Kong is the third- largest market for the companies after New York and London.

From a platform where Christie’s staff fielded calls from phone bidders, the company’s Asia President Andrew Foster stood, chewing on an arm of his glasses. He beamed and bantered with staff only when the gavel hit the block at HK$37 million for Sanyu’s work. Hammer prices and estimates don’t include commissions.

‘Market Loved It’

“The market loved it,” Foster said in an interview after the auction, held in a packed room.

Yesterday’s sale starts Christie’s four-day auction of 1,600 paintings, gems and antiques that it expects to sell for HK$750 million. Christie’s scaled back this year’s auction because of the slowdown. The comparable sale last year offered 2,400 items over six days and took a record HK$2.4 billion, against the company’s estimate of HK$1.7 billion.

The company also revised down its estimates across the board to reflect slower market demand. Prices of contemporary art at this auction were cut about 30 percent, said Tian Kai, a Beijing-based art dealer, who attended yesterday’s sale.

As with Sotheby’s auction a month ago, works by Chinese masters fetched the highest prices. The painting by Sanyu (1901- 1966) and others by China-born, Paris-based artist Zao Wou-ki (1921 - ) were the four most-expensive sold.

Zao’s brown-and-black themed painting “Nous Deux” was the second-priciest lot yesterday, fetching HK$35.4 million, against a presale top estimate of HK$15 million.

Artist Record

At Sotheby’s April Hong Kong auction, a work depicting fisherwomen sorting their catch by another deceased Chinese master Lin Fengmian fetched an artist record of HK$159 million.

Chinese contemporary art, Asia’s auction favorite before the credit crisis, found buyers, though for less money.

Cai Guoqiang’s “Rebuilding the Berlin Wall: Project for Extraterrestrials No. 7,” a 2-meter by 5.95-meter gunpowder and Chinese ink on Japanese paper made in 1990 sold for HK$8.4 million, the fifth most-expensive, against a presale top estimate of HK$8 million.

Zhang Xiaogang’s 1999 1.5-meter by 1.5-meter oil “Big Family Series No. 21” fetched HK$6.6 million, against a presale estimate range of HK$7 million to HK$9 million.

Works by other Chinese contemporary artists, Fang Lijun, Liu Ye, Zeng Fanzhi and Wu Dayu, rounded up the top-10 lots. Pieces by other Asian artists also sold, notably Yoshitomo Nara’s “Over the Topper,” an acrylic sculpture showing a life- sized child scaling a 4-meter ladder, which sold for HK$4.3 million, against a presale top estimate of HK$3.5 million.

Wine Sale

Earlier yesterday, Christie’s sold 203 of the 209 lots it offered at a wine sale that tallied HK$28 million. The top lot was a 60-bottle set of 1982 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, which fetched HK$1.44 million. Like the art sale, the most-expensive items were bought by Asians, especially mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong Chinese.

Yesterday’s sale of Southeast Asian art fetched HK$20.5 million, led by Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres’s “Ni Pollok.”

Christie’s auction continues today with the day sale of Asia contemporary art and Chinese modern paintings.