Daqian works to feature in Sotheby’s sale

WORKS by Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), top selling artist at auction in the world last year, will come under the hammer at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in Oct 5-9.

The sales series from Oct 5-9 will feature ceramics, paintings, contemporary Asian art, 20th century Chinese art, contemporary Southeast Asian paintings, jewellery, watches and wines.

Art by Zhang, whose 1968 drawing of mountain peaks in Switzerland, accompanied by a piece of calligraphy is estimated at $1-$1.5m, achieved auction sales of $550m last year. Next on the top ten was Qi Baishi (1864-1957) at $510m, followed by Andy Warhol with $325m worth of sales and Picasso who had $315m.

No fewer than six of the top ten selling artists last year were Chinese.

The other Europeans to make the list were Gerhard Richter at $175m and Francis Bacon at $129m.

The Chinese art market grew by 49% in 2011.

Paul Cezanne’s painting The Card Players (1892-1892) is believed to be the current most expensive painting ever sold.

It is thought to have been bought privately for $250m from Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos by the Qatari Royal family last year.