Christie's gets license to hold auctions in China
Baku, April 10 (AZERTAC). Christie’s International will hold a sale in Shanghai in the autumn of 2013, making it the first international auction house to hold its own branded events in mainland China.
The London-based company, which has maintained an office in Shanghai since 1994, has been granted a license to operate independently in China, it said today in an e-mail. Details of the inaugural auction will be announced later date, it said.
“The art market continues to grow at a tremendous rate due to the burgeoning interest, in art particularly in Asia and China,” Steven P. Murphy, chief executive officer of Christie’s, said in the release.
Sales of art and antiques in China raised 10.6 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in 2012, making it the world’s second- biggest market, according to a report published last month by the European Fine Art Foundation. The country’s regulatory framework has previously hindered foreign companies from holding events in China, leaving Hong Kong as the center for international auctions.
Hong Kong was Christie’s third-biggest auction center in 2012, contributing 440.9 million pounds ($673 million) of sales. The number of clients from mainland China bidding at its international auctions has doubled since 2008, the company said.
The main motivation behind securing the license is to sell locally-sourced objects to mainland Chinese clients.
Chinese Sellers
The 30-year license allows Christie’s to hold auctions anywhere in China, though it is barred from selling cultural relics inside the country, which can mean anything created before 1949.
The company plans to sell wine, jewelry, watches and contemporary Chinese paintings, as well as modern paintings from abroad. To avoid a thicket of taxes, it may hold some of its sales in duty free zones.
The publicly traded, New York-based auction house, said in September last year that it had signed an equity joint venture agreement with China’s Beijing GeHua Cultural Development Group, a state-owned media conglomerate. An inaugural sale, comprising a single work by the Chinese contemporary artist, Wang Huaiqing, was held in Beijing on Sept. 27 and raised 1.7 million yuan ($267,307).
Last month, Tefaf, the world’s biggest art and antiques fair, said that it was in talks with Sotheby’s to plan a collaborative event in China.
A group of U.K. auctioneers is holding a sale of art and antiques valued at 8 million pounds in mainland China later this month.
The recently formed Association of Accredited Auctioneers (Triple-A), comprising 21 independent firms from around the U.K., will sell about 400 lots at the Xiamen Free Port in Fujian province on April 21.
The event will be conducted by the Chinese company Huachen Auctions Co. Ltd. and will be promoted by EpaiLive Auction Co. Ltd., the country’s only online live bidding portal, Triple-A said.
“This event will establish levels of demand and create more of an understanding of how auctions work in the U.K.,” Chris Ewbank, the consortium’s chairman, said in an interview. “There have been problems with non-payment. Some buyers from China do expect to negotiate auction prices.”
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