PARIS.- The Asian art sale achieved a total of 7,861,125/£6,639,464/$8,764,092. The top lot of the sale was an exceptional Coromandel lacquer screen from the Kangxi period which was sold for 2,110,000 against a presale estimate of 200,000-400,000, establishing a new world auction record for a Coromandel lacquer screen.
Tiphaine Nicoul, Director of the department: We are thrilled to have realised such great results for this sale which was gathering rare pieces from different categories including paintings, furniture, jades, lacquers, statuary and ceramics. This sale, which attracted bidders from 21 countries showed that International collectors were attracted by high quality pieces with impeccable provenance such as the lacquer screen which is a real masterpiece, published and exhibited in 2014 at the Château de Versailles and was acquired by a private museum in Continental China.
The jade collectors have been seduced by important pieces such as a celadon jade figure of seated Buddha which was acquired 430,000 against a presale estimate of 40,000-60,000.
The painting section of the sale has realised very strong results for several artists including two works coming from the collection of Mr de Ligne with an exceptional result for an ink and colour on paper work executed by the artist Huang Binhong, Paysage, which was sold more than 10 times its high estimate for 874,000 and for a Paysage de la montagne jaune by Liu Haisu, sold for 137,500 against a presale estimate of 10,000-20,000.
We will also mention a rare and important cloisonné enamel tripod censer from the Qianlong period which was acquired 225,000 more than tripling its high estimate.
A strong result was also achieved for a soapstone mythical beast seal dated from the Qing dynasty and which was sold for 200,000, more than twenty times its high estimate.
Chinese lacquer boxes fetched also high results, such as a magnificent carved red cinnabar lacquer Peony box from the Ming Dynasty which was sold for 150,000 and a pair of imperial boxes from the Qianlong reign coming from a French private collection which achieved 125,000.