Though the 141-lot auction was modest by international standards, the event was as much about marketing and gaining access to the growing ranks of high-net-worth Chinese, Kevin Ching, chief executive officer of Sotheby’s Asia said. Twenty- nine lots in the auction failed to sell.

Modern and contemporary Chinese works by Zeng Fanzhi, the most-expensive living Asian artist, Yue Minjun and Yang Feiyun, also sold in yesterday’s auction.

First Auction

Sotheby’s received permission in September 2012 to establish a joint-venture auction house with state-owned Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group. Sotheby’s holds an 80 percent stake in the entity, Sotheby’s Beijing (Auction) Company Ltd.

Christie’s held its first auction in China in September in Shanghai, where it sold $25 million worth of watches, wine, jewelry and art. It is the first foreign auction house to operate in China without a local partner.

Meanwhile, mainland Chinese auction houses have been expanding abroad. Beijing-based Poly International Auction Co. and China Guardian Auctions Co. began holding sales in Hong Kong last year, where the absence of import duties or trade restrictions has made the free port the world’s third-largest auction hub.

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