Spirits were high this weekend (8 & 9 Oct) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as Sotheby’s Hong Kong hosted its Chinese Works of Art sale series which attracted a full crowd in the auction room. During both days, visitors witnessed a world-breaking moment and fierce bidding battles that led to two works soaring above HK$100 million. The two works, a Magnificent Ruby-Ground yangcai 'Trigrams' Reticulated Vase from the Qianlong period from the Dr Wou Kiuan Collection generated over 80 bids in the half an hour battle was in the end sold for HK$ 177,463,000 / US$ 22,607,012, and another, a Very Rare and Outstanding Huanghuali Folding Horseshoe-Back Armchair, jiaoyi from Late Ming dynasty from ‘the Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1’ evening sale achieved HK$ 124,609,000/ US$ 15,873,941 and now stands as a world auction record for a huanghuali folding armchair[1], almost doubling that of the previous record.
We are honoured to be entrusted with the illustrious collections from some of the world’s greatest Chinese art collectors. The strong sales results are testament to the increasing demand from a growing collector base for this category, as we witnessed active biddings from across the region and beyond.
A Magnificent Ruby-Ground yangcai 'Trigrams' Reticulated Vase from the Qianlong period from the Dr Wou Kiuan Collection is a possibly unique ruby-ground yangcai ‘trigrams’ reticulated vase, corroborated by the court archives to have been made either in 1743 or immediately thereafter. The vase is a tangible testament to the unprecedented and unparalleled culmination of technical virtuosity in porcelain production between 1741 and 1743, fuelled by an imperial reprimand from the Qianlong Emperor.
Yesterday (8 Oct), at ‘the Personal Collection of the late Sir Joseph Hotung: Part 1’ evening sale, the sale highlight of a Very Rare and Outstanding Huanghuali Folding Horseshoe-Back Armchair, jiaoyi from Late Ming dynasty caused a 15-minute frenzy bidding battle. Receiving with over 60 bids, this masterpiece achieved HK$ 124,609,000/ US$ 15,873,941, a world auction record for a huanghuali folding armchair. The much-anticipated evening sale concluded with a sale total of HK$ 469,226,800, with a high sell-through rate of 93%.
[1] Folding horseshoe-back armchairs, perhaps the most highly sought after of all items of Ming furniture, are among the most striking and most highly celebrated designs created by Chinese carpenters. Conceived to be folded for easy transport, these portable chairs were naturally more prone to damage than other pieces of furniture; few, therefore, could withstand the test of time, making extant examples extremely precious.
Jiaoyi, the term for ‘folding chairs’ in Chinese, literally means ‘crossed chair’, with reference to their intersecting legs. The Chinese phrase diyi ba jiaoyi, ‘the first taking the jiaoyi’, which is still in use, implies the highest-ranking person of an assembly who sits in a prominent position.
