Hundreds of onlookers and bidders crowded the sale room at the Mandarin Oriental for China Guardian's debut Hong Kong sale.

China’s oldest mainland auction house, China Guardian, staged an impressive Hong Kong debut yesterday, chalking up HK$455 million (US$58.6 million) in sales, more than double their pre-sale estimate of HK$185 million, in front of a packed saleroom at the Mandarin Oriental hotel.

Guardian was taking no chances in their first outing in the harbor city, focusing on the market sweet spot of Chinese traditional modern painting and offering a smorgasbord of crowd-pleasing lots, including works by market favorites like Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Li Keran, and Xu Beihong. The top lot was a superb Qi Baishi, the 1922 set of colored ink landscapes “Album of Mountains and Rivers,” which had previously been owned by the noted Japanese collector Yakichirosuma. The album sold for HK$46 million (US$5.9 million) against a high estimate of HK$26 million after a spirited 20-bidder battle.

Although a few bidders phoned in, most of the action came from the saleroom floor, creating a buzz that was heightened by hundreds of spectators who turned out to watch the historic debut sale.

Hong Kong collectors were in the room, but the event was an overwhelmingly mainland Chinese affair: Guardian had flown in more than 20 of their top mainland buyers for the event, and proceedings were conducted in Mandarin Chinese rather than the English that is the norm in Hong Kong’s sales rooms. Why drag your best customers 1200 miles to a sale that could have been held at home? The likely reason is that the move into Hong Kong is not so much about reaching a new market as about providing a more congenial venue for Guardian’s mainland clients, away from the complex sales taxes and growing scrutiny that characterize the mainland auction scene.

Following the sale, Guardian Chairman Wang Yannan confirmed that yesterday’s event was the opening act in a planned long-term commitment to Hong Kong. Professing herself “thrilled” by the opening sale, she is now “confidently looking forward to the Spring auctions next year.”

Guardian’s key rival Poly Auctions will debut in Hong Kong in late November. Poly is the third largest auction house in the world after Christie’s and Sotheby’s, with Guardian in fourth place.