It’s a record year for luxury in Asia as Christie’s Asia rakes in the numbers

With over HK$3B (US$389M) in sales this season, the auction house recorded running sales total exceeding HK$2B (US$258M) for a third consecutive year.

Art contributed significantly to the sales total. Christie’s Hong Kong presented a series of four live 20th and 21st Century Art auctions — the 20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale and the Post-Millennium Evening Sale, a Collab with Jay Chou, followed by the 20th Century Art Day Sale and 21st Century Art Day Sale –from 28 to 29 November 2023. Together, they achieved a sales total of HK$1.05B (US$136M). Meanwhile, Christie’s Asian Art Autumn Live Auctions achieved HK$918M (US$118M) in sales.

20 artworks sold went over the HK$10M (US$1.28M) mark, with Asian artists leading the pack. The late Chinese-French painter Sanyu’s first major nude painting Femme nue sur un tapis (Nude on Tapestry) went for HK$187M (US$24M). Another big name and major sale highlight was Japanese pop artist Yayoi Kusama. All her works auctioned sold, led by A Flower, which sold for HK$78M (US$10M).

Regarded as one of the most esteemed collections of Chinese porcelain in the world, 15 masterpieces from The Tianminlou Collection were also on the auction block. A Yuan Dynasty ‘Peony Scroll’ Meiping vase with cover from The Tianminlou Collection sold for HK$68M (US$8.7M).

In terms of jewellery, all eyes were on the The Pink Supreme Diamond. As the world’s largest intense pink diamond to ever appear at an auction, it eventually fetched a pretty price tag of HK$83M (US$10.8M). Overall, the autumn live sale total for jewellery was HK$491M (US$63M). It marked the second highest autumn auction total for the category in Asia since 2017.

Handbag highlights this season include the Hermès Faubourg Sellier Birkins and Hermès Himalaya. All in all, handbags and accessories achieved its highest ever annual sales total for the category globally with HK$154M (US$20M).

Part 1 of The OAK (One of a Kind) Collection saw an auction of unique timepieces, where each and every watch can be considered a highlight. It brought in HK$51.8M (US$6.6M). That, along with two other live watches auctions by Christie’s Hong Kong – Important Watches and The Philippe & Elisabeth Dufour Foundation Charity Auction – achieved a combined sales total of HK$222M (US$28.6M), the second highest autumn total at Christie’s Asia.

“Against a challenging macro-environment, Asian buying has been robust and sustained throughout the second half of the year, in Shanghai, Hong Kong and our salerooms globally, including at the top masterpiece level,” says Francis Belin, the president of Christie’s Asia Pacific. “”This season once again drew worldwide participation and tremendous engagement both live in the saleroom and online, with an increase in new and younger buyers.”

The trend of newer and younger buyers was noticeable as 20% of the buyers for this season were new to Christie’s. The auction house also noted that Millennials buyers were up almost 30% vs autumn 2022. It was even more noticeable in art. Millennials accounted for over 40% of new buyers overall, and 67% of Evening Sale new buyers.

Belin adds that Christie’s Asia “looks ahead with optimism to 2024, with more magnificent sales and events in the pipeline, including the pivotal move of Christie’s Asia Pacific headquarters to The Henderson.”

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