Zhang Daqian's Tibetan Women with Dogs has top performed at a leading Chinese auction house's first venture into Hong Kong.
The 1944 hanging scroll sold for $6.2m, demolishing its $929,000 estimate by 567.3% - confirmation that the appetite for important Chinese artists such as Daqian, remains strong.
 Chu Teh-Chun’s 1987 work La foret blanche II sold for $7.8m at Christie’s on November 24 |
The world's best-selling artist in 2011, Daqian's Lotus and Mandarin Ducks sold for $24.6m at Sotheby's in 2011, setting a new record for the artist, helping him to $506.7m in sales last year.
Traditionally the preserve of Christie's and Sotheby's, Beijing-based Poly Auction, the world's third largest auction house by sales, has followed compatriot China Guardian into Hong Kong, where there are no capital gains or sales taxes.
And Zhao Xu, Poly Auction's executive director, is bullish on the company's prospects.
"Overseas Chinese still prefer a big Chinese auction house run by Chinese people to help them sell their art works," he told the Financial Times.
Xu added that when it comes to Chinese art, "Chinese people know better".
This week Christie's is also hosting a series of major art auctions in Hong Kong. Chu Teh-Chun's 1987 work La foret blanche II highlighted the company's Asian 20th Century & Contemporary Art evening sale on November 24, with a $7.8m performance - a world record for the artist.
Sotheby's has recently entered the Chinese mainland market itself, through a joint venture with a state-owned company, yet Chinese art is one asset that it will not be selling.
The country's laws state that foreign auction houses are forbidden from selling antique Chinese artworks.
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