Zhang Daqian 'Spring Clouds and Dawn' Sold for: HKD 214.631 million Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Chinese painting and calligraphy has always been the highlight of the annual spring and autumn auctions, and this season's Hong Kong autumn auction of Zhang Daqian was a big winner!

After 15 minutes of fierce bidding, the auction was finally settled at HK$185 million, plus commission of over HK$214.6 million! The second highest price ever achieved by an artist at auction!

Lot 3065
Zhang Daqian, "Spring Clouds and Dawn
Sold for: HKD 214.631 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

In less than a year's time, Sotheby's Hong Kong autumn sale of Spring Clouds and Dawn was able to break the current record for Daqian's sales, successfully changing the position.

In addition to this, Daqian's flowers "Red Peony in the Hall of Light" and "Green Peony with Buddha's Head" were each sold for three times their estimated price! Congratulations!

Lot 3158
Zhang Daqian's Red Peony in the Hall of Illumination
Sold for: HKD 134.885 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 3159
Zhang Daqian 'Green Peony with Buddha's Head'
Sold for: HKD 134.885 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Guardian Hong Kong Zhang Daqian's Spring Snow Beginning to Melt became the dark horse of the sale, with a pre-auction estimate of $1.8-3.8 million and a final sale of $21.21 million, exceeding the minimum estimate by a factor of 10! It is fair to say that the current Daqian market is still in full swing!

Lot 424
Zhang Daqian, The First Melting of Spring Snow
Sold for: HKD 21.21 million
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

02
In terms of the categories sold
Contemporary Art continues to dominate
Chinese painting and calligraphy performed well
Contemporary Art
As a global centre of economic and cultural convergence, Hong Kong has always produced a generation with advanced thinking and awareness, and it is home to a group of people who can best appreciate modern and contemporary art.
Sotheby's closed this season's Contemporary art sales at HK$1.4 billion, bringing the cumulative Asian sales of the two segments to $4.7 billion this year, up 35% on last year! This is an impressive result. This season's Contemporary Art section was topped by Picasso's Woman on Her Knees, while Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (Red Soldier) was not far behind, standing firmly in the $100 million club.

Lot 1017
Pablo Picasso, Woman with Knees
Sold for: HKD 191.651 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 1118
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Red Warrior)
Sold for: HKD 162,926,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2021
Guardian Hong Kong's 20th Century and Contemporary Asian Art also achieved remarkable results, with a total sale of HK$143 million and a 92% sell-through rate! This season, Guardian Hong Kong's major theme, "Oriental Aesthetics", brought together 49 major works and achieved an outstanding 92% sale rate of HK$104 million, with a number of multi-million dollar masterpieces.

Wu Guanzhong's Lilacs sold for HK$20.04 million after 20 bids, setting a world auction record for Wu Guanzhong's 'bottle flower theme'; Lin Fengmian's Lotus Painting sold for HK$11.85 million after 12 bids and 32 bids, exceeding the estimate by four times; and Wu Dayu's Flower Rhyme sold for HK$10.68 million.

Lot 36
Wu Guanzhong 'Lilacs'
Sold for: HKD 2004,000
A world auction record for Wu Guanzhong's 'bottle and flower theme'
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 32
Lin Fengmian's 'Lotus Flower'
Sold for: HKD 11.85 million
Over 4 times estimate
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy
Chinese painting and calligraphy was also a highlight, with the top of the list, Zhang Daqian's Spring Clouds, and Guardian Hong Kong's Dong Qichang's Book of Calligraphy, which sold for HKD 57.75 million, setting a world auction record for a booklet of calligraphy by Dong Qichang and topping the Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction this season! It was ranked among the top ten in the first round! Gong Xian's "Landscape" and Huang Binhong's "Yellow Mountain" all sold well.

Lot 2557
Gong Xian, Landscape with a View
Sold for: HKD 14,695,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 3164
Pu Ru, 'Couplet in Regular Script for the December Order'
Sold for: HKD 9,734,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 384
Huang Binhong, The Boat in the Yellow Mountains
Sold at: HKD 5.4 million
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 348
Gao Jianfu, Watching the Hanging Spider with the Moon Falling over the Willow
Sold for: HKD 4.56 million
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Porcelain - Jade - Buddha
The porcelain, jade and Buddha section of this season's Hong Kong Autumn Sale was full of excitement and sold steadily, with Sotheby's topping the list with a Qing Yongzheng famille rose-coloured round covered box sold for HKD 34,660,000, an elegantly coloured and auspicious piece of porcelain.

A Ming Jun kiln rose-purple-glazed sunflower-mouth water fairy basin sold for HK$22.97 million after 12 bids, exceeding its estimate by several times, making it the most sold porcelain artefact at Guardian's Hong Kong autumn auction this season.


Lot 3656
A round lidded box with a pink-coloured peach and a longevity offering, Yongzheng nian zhi ('Made in the Yongzheng period of the Qing dynasty')
Sold for: HKD 34.66 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 1062

A Jun kiln rose-purple-glazed sunflower-mouthed water nymph pot

Sold for: HKD 229.625 million

Guardian Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 3641
A pair of jun glazed garlic vases
Marked 'Yongzheng nian zhi'
Sold for: HKD 21.35 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 1067

A blue-and-white ruyi open-bright lingzhi-lien bottle

Sold for: HKD 17,115,000

Guardian Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 1055
A pair of blue and red enamelled doublestone-designed bell-ringers
Sold at: HKD 15,360,000
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 1043
A blue and white bowl decorated with two lotus petals and entwined lotus
Sold at: HKD 6,585,000
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Guardian Hong Kong's autumn jade sales this season were also extremely impressive, with a white jade double dragon and ring motif outline jade bowl, estimated at $6-8 million, selling for HK$23.55 million, well over three times its high estimate! Another jade ward off evil spirits also sold for over $10 million, making the market for antique jade very good!


Lot 1136
A white nephrite jade jade jade with two dragons and rings
Sold for: HKD 23.55 million
Over 3 times the high estimate
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 1105
Jade Evil Pillar
Sold for: HKD 10.68 million
Guardian Hong Kong Autumn 2021


Lot 3601
An imperial 'inscription on a mountain and water landscape in Hotan jade'
Sold for: HKD 9,855,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021


Lot 3622
A white jade 'Lohan' boulder
Imperial inscription 'Venerable Baba Zu Li Bu Prosara', Yamazi
Sold for: HKD 8,887,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

This season's autumn sale of Buddhist statues was also full of interest, the most notable of which was a bronze seated statue of Shakyamuni Buddha from the fifth year of the Daitong reign of the Western Wei dynasty, of which only two examples have been found, both in art museums. It is rare for a seated bronze statue of Shakyamuni Buddha to circulate in the art market. The final sale exceeded the highest estimate by a factor of nearly three, so you can imagine its value.

Lot 3503
A bronze seated statue of Shakyamuni Buddha
Sold for: HKD 17,115,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 3651
Bronze and lacquered gold seated statue of Dainichi Nyorai
Sold for: HKD 18,325,000
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 3505
Gilt-bronze seated statue of Avalokiteshvara with lotus hands
Sold for: HKD 12.88 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2021
03
In terms of artist sales
Heavyweight artists renewed
New artists entering the market are selling well
In terms of the last two years of spring and autumn sales, new artists have continued to impact the current art market. In addition to Picasso, Changyu and Yoshitomo Nara, newcomers such as Chu Teh-Chun and Roy Lichtenstein have taken up the top ten spots in the last year or two. For example, Roy Lichtenstein has made a thunderous entry into the Asian auction market since his debut this spring in Hong Kong, and this season he has also presented us with the classic "Mysterious Painting" from the "Reflection Series", which was sold at a high estimate and has steadily established itself in the top ten club. It is fair to say that Roy Lichtenstein has become a presence to be reckoned with in the current art market. Another important artist, Joan Mitchell, has also been a major player in the Contemporary art market over the last two years, and is sure to give the market a shock when she appears.
In addition, several emerging artists in the European and American markets have performed well, with Jadet Fadojutimi, Rafa Maccarone and Joel Messler, among others, all setting new records for artists at auction.

Lot 1109
Jadet Fadojutimi 'Discomfort'
Sold for: HKD 6,225,000
Over three times the high estimate
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021

Lot 1106
Lloyd Hollowell, Portrait of a Lady with Green Hair
Sold for: HKD 8.04 million
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn 2021

Lot 1103
Rafa Maccarone The Fluorine Everyday (Diptych)
Sold for: HKD 4,284,000
Over six times the high estimate
Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2021