Sotheby’s and Christie’s are the best-known brands in the auctions business, hosting more than 600 events each year around the world and offering nearly 100 categories of art and other collectibles. Formed in the mid-18th century, London’s two titans have been holding semi-annual auctions in Hong Kong for over 25 years.
The auctioneer’s key role is to provide the expertise necessary to confirm the provenance and authenticity of art pieces, and then to establish benchmark prices for art and artists through its sales. But that role is evolving. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have started to offer specialised auctions and hold private sales.
They have also established galleries, purchased art directly from artists rather than from collectors, and expanded into publishing, real estate, and fine wine.
Sensing the growing interest and financial muscle in Asia, the auction houses have in addition begun to hold previews in Hong Kong of artworks sold elsewhere. Sotheby’s London Impressionist sale in February 2015 is one example. The Claude Monets and other works on view in Hong Kong in January drew crowds.
“The market for works by Claude Monet has now reached an all-time point of strength, with bidders coming from four times as many countries as a decade ago,” Helena Newman, Sotheby’s co-head for Impressionist & Modern Art, said.
Auctions sometimes still have the feel of an old boys’ club. When Christie’s Hong Kong sale in November of a Ming dynasty silk hanging set a record for a Chinese artwork of $45 million, the bidding arrangements raised a few eyebrows.
Shanghai-based billionaire Liu Yiqian was represented by Jinqing Cai, president of Christie’s China, and made the winning bid in a two-phone bidding war with an unnamed international collector represented by François Curiel, chairman of Christie’s Asia Pacific.
Still, by allowing collectors of all ages and income brackets to have access to specialised information, the internet is assuredly disrupting the old, cosy art market.
Although prices online have not yet reached the dizzying heights of the past at live auctions, change is in the air as shown by Sotheby’s partnership with eBay.
