Sotheby's Asia

T he autumn season for Asian Art at Sotheby’s Hong Kong ended on a high note last week, clinching white glove results for both single-owner auctions. Most notably, Masterpieces of Asian Art from the Okada Museum of Art achieved HK$688M (US$88M) and set two new auction records for Japanese art. After more than 30 bids, Kitagawa Utamaro’s Fukugawa in Snow (Fukugawa no yuki) sold to a Japanese collector for HK$55,275,000 (US$7,101,179), setting a record for the artist at auction, while Hokusai’s Under the Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura) achieved HK$21,725,000 (US$2,791,011), just surpassing its previous auction record for this print.

As the festive season approaches, we are delighted to bring new art exhibitions and luxury offerings at our Maison. Visit from 27 November to see Heaven’s Mandate: Giuseppe Castiglione’s Auspicious Lotus for the Yongzheng Emperor – exhibiting a painting closely tied to the legitimation of the emperor in the first year of the Yongzheng reign and which marked the entry of the most important Western painter onto the stage of the Chinese imperial court.

On the first floor, the selling exhibition, Our Bygone Days, brings more than 100 works by pioneering figures in Hong Kong’s manga scene – Alphonso Wong and Joseph Wong (Old Master Q), Lee Chi Ching (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), and Andy Seto (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In) – including original comic cover drawings, strips from classic episodes, animation cels, and unique pieces created exclusively for this exhibition.

Concurrently, following a successful exhibition at Sotheby’s in 2023, we present another solo exhibition of Korean artist Je Yeoran. Curated by Jang-Uk Lee, Chief Curator at Space K, Seoul, the exhibition will showcase abstract paintings produced between 1997 to 2025.

Shop gifts – or a treat for yourself – from our pop-up, Glow & Glamour. An extension of our year-round Hong Kong Salon, browse from a specially curated selection of the finest handbags, jewellery, and watches, all available for immediate purchase.

Meanwhile, our auctions continue online with Finest and Rarest Spirits (until 9 December), Handbags and Accessories (until 11 December) and Liquid Jade: Moutai + Tea Treasures (until 16 December). Our final live auction of the year will take place on 13 December. The Magnificent Cellar of a Gentleman offers a carefully curated selection drawn from a larger collection amassed over more than two decades, featuring back-vintage wines from DRC, Liger-Belair, Salon, Krug, Dom Pérignon, and the 20th century’s finest vintages of all the First Growths.

Stay tuned for further announcements of events in Hong Kong and across Asia.