This past Thursday, the Christie’s Hong Kong modern and contemporary art evening sale brought in a combined HK$1.4 billion with premium, hammering just above the expected low estimate of HK$1.2 billion .
Despite Hong Kong and Shanghai having just emerged from another strict lockdown period, the sales performed well, with a relatively high 93 percent sell-through and records set for 11 artists. Among them were established figures like Hernan Bas and Zhang Enli, as well as those whose markets are still growing, like Ayako Rokkaku and Rhee Seundja.
Across the 59 lots offered, 55 sold. Just four lots were withdrawn from the sales lineup. Eighteen lots, or around 30 percent of the sales offerings, were backed with financial guarantees.Christie’s Hong Kong–based auctioneers Georgina Hilton and Liang-Lin Chen, both of whom are relatively new to the rostrum, oversaw the two-part sale. The latter made her debut as an auctioneer on Thursday following Christie’s Asia chairman Elaine Kwok’s departure for Hauser & Wirth this past February.
After attracting five bids, the painting hammered at its expectation of HK$150 million , going for a final price of $22 million to a bidder on the phone with Christie’s Hong Kong–based contemporary art specialist Cristian Albu. The result makes it the second-most-expensive work by Picasso to sell at auction in the region, though the sum is a far cry from Picasso’s $179.4 million worldwide auction record.
Zao, whose works tend to perform particularly well at Hong Kong auctions, was represented at the Christie’s sale by. Coming to sale with a guarantee, it dates to a part of Zao’s career known as the Hurricane Period, between 1959 and 1972, when he produced what are considered to be his finest works. The abstraction sold for HK$278 million , nearly doubling in value since its last sale, in 2017 at Christie’s, where it made a then record HK$152.9 million .