While Chinese buyers account for about half of all international auction sales in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s and Christie’s have only begun selling inside China this year.
They are taking advantage of new regulations that allow them to sell art, wine and collectibles within virtual free- trade zones by treating imported works brought in temporarily as bonded goods, thereby allowing buyers to avoid paying customs duty of 6 percent and value added tax of 17 percent on art. Wine and jewelry are subject to consumption tax as well.
Off-Limits
The most lucrative part of the Chinese art and antiques market valued at 10.6 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in 2012 by the European Fine Art Foundation is off-limits to foreign auction houses under a law to protect cultural relics.
Bidding for Zao’s work, sold by the Art Institute of Chicago, which acquired it in 1961, attracted fierce bidding from eight bidders in the room and on the telephone during a battle lasting almost five minutes. Its high pre-sale estimate, excluding fees, was 45 million yuan.
Beijing-born Zao moved to Paris in 1948 where he immersed himself in western painting techniques. By the mid-1950s he had developed his own distinctive style blending traditional Chinese and western elements to produce his abstract works, of which “Abstraction” is considered one of the finest examples, said de Sarthe.
Highlights of the items on offer in the private sales included a Rembrandt valued at 347 million yuan, a 48.5 million yuan Picasso oil painting and a bronze-cast Rodin for 10.23 million yuan. None of the three sold over the weekend.
Second Chance
Chinese buyers will have a second chance to purchase them when the unsold items will be offered as part of a much larger private sale in Hong Kong from Jan. 6 to Jan. 16.
Unlike auctions, private sales have fixed prices, do not charge buyers fees and results are not released. At least eight lots, including two paintings and several pieces of furniture, were sold.