Asia’s millionaires turn to art investments
Asia’s millionaires turn to art investments
The Asian art market is continuing its rise to prominence with buyers asserting their own tastes regardless of trends in London and New York.
According to a 2012 study by consultants Cap Gemini, there are more millionaires in Asia than in the US. If recent art sales in Hong Kong are anything to go by, they are increasingly making their presence felt in the art world.
On October Saturday 5 ‘The Last Supper’, a four metre wide painting by Beijing artist Zeng Fanzhi sold for $24.7m at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong, setting a new record price for a work by an Asian contemporary artist.
On October 7, works by 20th century Chinese painter Zhang Daqian fetched prices far in excess of estimates at a sale of fine Chinese paintings at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. ‘Spring Dawns upon the Colorful Hills’ was estimated to fetch HK$3,800,000 – 5,000,000 but sold to a private Asian bidder for HK$34,840,000. Another painting, ‘Lady Seated by the Bamboo’, was estimated to fetch HK$2,500,000-3,500,000 but sold for HK$10,240,000.