Christie’s hosted its Dear Mr Monet sale in Hong Kong over the weekend.

The auction featured a wealth of art and memorabilia connected with Claude Monet, mostly from the collection of his granddaughter Rolande Verneiges.

Monet's eyeglasses proved a big hit in the Hong Kong sale

Monet’s  Falaises des Petites-Dalles (1884) was the overall highlight, selling for $4.6m (double its estimate).

Monet painted the work on a visit to the Normandy coast, a region he found deeply inspiring. It is part of a celebrated series.

He would return again in the 1890s to paint these same views.

A pair of Monet’s eyeglasses also performed well in the memorabilia section of the sale, achieving $51,457.

That sum is all the more impressive when you consider those glasses had been valued at just $2,000.

Adrien Meyer, co-chair of Christie’s impressionist and modern art department, said: “The energy during the worldwide preview and the momentum in the auction room tonight confirms once again Monet's magic aura.

“There was a high level of international bidding with over 75% of the buyers from Asia leading to a sale’s total more than double its low estimate.

“The strong results validates the strong appetite of the Asian market for Impressionism.”

We have a signed letter from another great master of impressionism.

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