Final week, when all eyes have been on the $2.2 billion marquee gross sales in New York, Sotheby’s achieved one other historic lead to Hong Kong with the white-glove sale of masterpieces from Japan’s Okada Museum of Artwork, which generated HK$688 million ($88 million) throughout 125 works. Staged as a single-owner sale through the Asian Artwork gross sales collection, the public sale noticed 19 heaps surpass the $10 million mark. Topping the sale was Kitagawa Utamaro’s monumental panoramic ukiyo-e masterpiece Fukagawa in Snow (Fukagawa no yuki), which achieved HK$55,275,000 ($7,101,179) over an HK$8,000,000 excessive estimate, promoting to a Japanese collector after a prolonged eight-minute bidding battle with greater than 30 bids. The composition unfolds as a full dioramic panorama, capturing the ambiance of a grand Fukagawa teahouse in winter: the higher ground bustling with motion and exercise, animated by customs and rituals particular to the Fukagawa licensed quarters. By means of the fukinuki-yatai “blown-off roof” conference, Utamaro reveals geisha, attendants and guests engaged in music, video games and each day rituals, framed by snow-laden pines. Wealthy pigments, intricate particulars and twenty-seven figures animate this three-meter-wide scene that’s unprecedented in scale inside his oeuvre.
Born round 1753, Utamaro skilled beneath the Kano-school painter Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788), changing into famend for his bijin-ga, or portraits of lovely ladies—particularly within the okubi-e fashion, characterised by large-headed bust portraits. Feminine figures sit on the very middle of this monumental print, whose vibrant storytelling encapsulates all the weather that made Utamaro probably the most celebrated ukiyo-e artists of the Edo interval. At this time, the work stands as a unprecedented testomony to his virtuosity and the cultural world of the licensed pleasure quarters.
The opposite high lot of the session was Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic Underneath the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), broadly often called The Nice Wave, which fetched HK$21,725,000—far exceeding its HK$8,000,000 excessive estimate. Roughly 8,000 impressions have been produced of the work, although solely about 130 prints survive. Comparable examples might be discovered within the collections of the British Museum, the Museum of Positive Arts, Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork. This version offered to a Japanese collector for greater than thrice its estimate after a fierce eight-minute bidding battle, with over 20 bids positioned within the room, by way of Sotheby’s specialists on the telephone and on-line.
There was additionally heated competitors for 3 different iconic prints from Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, every of which surpassed its excessive estimate. One other masterpiece of Hokusai’s magnificence portraiture, A Summer season Morning (Natsu no asa), soared to HK$20,505,000 ($2,634,277), pushed by 22 bids to just about triple its HK$7,000,000 excessive estimate. Equally intense bidding—with 42 bids—ratcheted up the value of Ito Jakuchu’s (1716-1800) poetic Cockerel amongst Flowers to 6 occasions its estimate, with the work finally promoting for HK$9,525,000 ($1,223,677).
Advisory Gurr Johns managed the museum liquidation
World artwork advisory and appraisal agency Gurr Johns managed all the deaccessioning course of—from appraisal to sale, and all authorized and tax necessities—over greater than two years. The Okada Museum of Artwork in Hakone, Japan (based in 2013 by billionaire collector Kazuo Okada), was compelled to promote this trove of masterworks to settle a roughly $50 million authorized invoice owed by Okada.
“After assembly a litigator in Miami who requested me if we might appraise and assist promote an Asian artwork museum assortment, Gurr Johns was engaged to appraise the Okada Museum Assortment on behalf of the company receivers in a Hong Kong chapter case,” president Charlie Horne informed Observer. “The gathering, comprising masterworks of Asian artwork, required a complete valuation to ascertain a basis for each authorized and industrial decision-making.” Following completion of the appraisal, Gurr Johns was awarded the extremely aggressive consignment mandate over main worldwide public sale homes. “Our independence as an advisory agency, mixed with our means to tailor options throughout jurisdictions, proved decisive in shifting this complicated matter ahead,” Horne added, explaining how, in shut collaboration with New York and Hong Kong counsel, they developed a bespoke consignment construction. “Explicit care was taken to deal with the authorized necessities of a receivership sale whereas concurrently preserving the worth and integrity of the gathering.”
Stellar outcomes for Chinese language and Korean Artwork
The Ya Yi fanglei vessel, dated to the late Shang dynasty, offered for HK$38,805,000 ($4,985,278), after greater than 45 bids for practically ten occasions its excessive estimate. A tremendous doucai gilt-decorated “bajixiang” tianqiuping vase from the Qianlong interval squarely met expectations, attaining HK$33,925,000 ($4,358,345) after a HK$60,000,000 excessive estimate. An outstanding celadon-glazed lotus-mouth bottle vase of the Yongzheng interval soared to HK$30,875,000 (US$3,966,511), practically doubling its excessive estimate after 23 bids. Robust demand additionally propelled a particularly uncommon Tang dynasty sancai-glazed hawk-form ewer to HK$22,945,000 (roughly US$2,947,744)—eight occasions its excessive estimate, with 31 bids positioned.
The extraordinary competitors continued throughout further heaps, which included a really uncommon, transparent-glazed “parrot” cup from the Sui–early Tang dynasty, which climbed to HK$18,187,000 (US$2,336,484), surpassing its excessive estimate by eleven occasions after 47 bids. An distinctive Yongle-period blue and white “peony” ewer realized HK$16,845,000 (US$2,164,077), doubling its excessive estimate with 21 bids positioned.
Some museum-grade masterpieces of Korean artwork additionally exceeded expectations, led by an beautiful slip-inlaid celadon-glazed kundika from the Thirteenth-century Goryeo dynasty, which achieved HK$2,159,000 ($277,367). A celadon stoneware inlaid maebyong from the twelfth century, which offered for HK$1,524,000 (US$195,788), practically doubling its HK$600,000-800,000 estimate.
Robust demand in New York from Asian collectors
It was every week of profitable gross sales globally for the public sale home, pushed in a big half by Asian patrons not solely in Hong Kong but additionally in New York—reaffirming that whereas Asian patrons are usually extra selective, they’re extremely engaged relating to pursuing once-in-a-lifetime masterpieces. Certainly, Sotheby’s reported that Asian bidders accounted for 30 % of the whole quantity bid in New York, chasing a number of of the Night Sale’s headline heaps. “Collectors in Asia have lengthy been key members within the artwork market, and their engagement already this season exhibits how powerfully they mobilize when works of remarkable high quality come to public sale,” Evelyn Lin, Sotheby’s Asia chairman for Fashionable & Up to date Artwork, mentioned in a press release.
Whereas Patti Wong narrowly missed securing Edvard Munch’s Sankthansnatt (Midsummer Night time), she received Gustav Klimt’s Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee) (1916) for $68.3 million—one among solely two museum-grade Klimts within the record-setting $706 million Leonard A. Lauder sale. She informed Observer that she assisted three purchasers from the area in pursuing every of the Klimt masterpieces on provide and likewise served as a direct underbidder on the Munch. “Demand for artwork amongst Asian collectors has remained sturdy, regardless of hypothesis on the contrary. Collectors are actively searching for works on the highest degree,” she mentioned. In the identical session, Klimt’s drawing Research for Portrait I of Adele Bloch-Bauer offered to Yasuaki Ishizaka, Sotheby’s senior advisor in Japan, bidding on behalf of a shopper, whereas Agnes Martin’s Backyard was instantly underbid by Jen Hua, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and chairman of Sotheby’s China.
That includes Sotheby’s charismatic Phyllis Kao on the rostrum, The Now & Up to date Night Sale’s $178 million end result additionally noticed sturdy bidding from Asia. Works by Antonio Obá, Yu Nishimura and Yves Klein all noticed aggressive competitors from senior Sotheby’s Asia specialists Jen Hua and Wendy Lin. Nishimura’s thicket finally offered for $711,200 to Lin on behalf of a telephone bidder, marking a brand new file for the rising Japanese painter. The evening’s star lot—Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto)—went to Hua bidding for an Asian shopper for $48.3 million. Matthew Wong’s The Light Sea was additionally received by Hua after an intense change through which Lin served because the direct underbidder.
Asian collectors stay vital drivers of demand on the very high of the up to date market, whilst they’ve stepped again from the ultracontemporary speculative surge. Robust participation from Asia contributed to the success of the Cindy & Jay Pritzker Assortment sale, the place museum-grade European modernism drew notable curiosity, yielding a complete of $109.5 million throughout simply 13 heaps. Camille Pissarro’s Bords de l’Oise à Pontoise noticed brisk bidding from Asia, whereas main works by Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger have been each acquired by Asian collectors.
The momentum continued in Beautiful Corpus, the place Asian patrons secured key Surrealist and early modernist works. Max Ernst’s J’ai bu du tabourin, j’ai mangé du cymbal ($2,246,000), Giorgio De Chirico’s Le Muse inquietanti ($2,978,000) and René Magritte’s Le Symbole dissimulé ($2,490,000) have been all acquired by collectors from the area. Salvador Dalí’s Symbiose de la tête aux coquillages attracted intense bidding from Asia, and an Asian collector served as a direct underbidder on Hans Bellmer’s Les Bas rayés. The Fashionable Night Sale adopted swimsuit, with Joan Miró’s Personnages et oiseau devant le soleil inspiring sturdy competitors from Asia. Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine attracted related demand from the area, with Jen Hua once more serving because the direct underbidder.
