Christie's has just announced that it will hold its renowned Asian art week from September 11-14 in New York.
 The brushpot looks set to sell as the top lot of any auction |
The week will consist of five sales, featuring more than 1,100 lots, with Christie's latest instalment expected to top the $28m achieved over four days in London in May. The spring sales saw Christie's propelled to the forefront of the Asian art market, with almost all of the auctions selling over 80% by lot.
First up on September 11 will be the Japanese and Korean Art sale, which will star a stunning blue and white porcelain dragon vase that originates from Korea's Joseon dynasty of the 18th century.
September 12 will feature the South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Auction and a sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art, both of which will be dominated by a range of India's top artists as well as contemporary Pakistani works and ancient Nepali and Tibetan art. The top lot will be an untitled 1992 work from Tyeb Mehta, which will auction with a $600,000-800,000 estimate.
In contrast to the May sales, September 13 will see an auction of Asian art reference books, including selections from the CT Loo library, which has been titled In Pursuit of Knowledge. The sale will contain more than 120 books, periodicals and catalogues that provide a unique opportunity for collectors to acquire rare and important reference materials. Estimates will range from $500-15,000.
The week's strongest sales will undoubtedly be provided by the two day Fine Chinese Ceramics sale on September 13-14 - the May Fine Chinese Ceramics auction brought £11.8m to Christie's, totalling more than all of the other auctions combined. Leading bids will be a striking green jade brush pot from the Qianlong period, which has been carved with a scene of the Six Scholars of Zhuxi and will sell for $500,000-800,000.
In 2011, Christie's saw its total profits up 14% on 2010's figure, having been boosted by Chinese art sales which, according to the Mei Moses index, increased in value by 20.6% during the year. Find out how you can capitalise on the thriving Chinese market with advice from our experts.
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