NEW YORK, NY.- Asian Art Week began with a strong sale of Japanese and Korean Art that totaled $4,241,160, selling 89 percent by lot, and 162 percent of low estimate with buyer’s premium included. Once again, Christie’s showed its dominance in achieving important results for works by the Ukiyo-e master, Katsushika Hokusai. The day’s top lot was an impression of Hokusai’s monumental woodblock print, Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa, which achieved $856,800, more than 170 percent of its low estimate. A hanging scroll on which Hokusai depicted Swimming Carp in ink and color brought $655,200, more than two and a half times its low estimate. Other top results included an impression of Utagawa Hiroshige’s famous image Ohashi Atake no yudachi (Ohashi bridge, sudden shower at Atake) from the artist’s famous series, One hundred views of famous places in Edo, which made $118,440, almost three times its low estimate. The auction included a section of netsuke from an important European private collection. The top lot of this group was a Carved wood Insho (Seal-Type) Sashi-Netsuke of the Edo Period (18th century), which made $37,800, more than 7.5 times its low estimate. Korean works also thrived. Notable results included a Blue and White Porcelain Jar with Four Landscape Roundels and a Poem, dating from the 18th century Joseon dynasty, which made $378,000, and Park Sookeun’s oil painting, Playing Children, 1960, which realized $277,200.

Insho (Seal-Type) Sashi-Netsuke of the Edo Period (18th century), which made $37,800, more than 7.5 times its low estimate. Korean works also thrived. Notable results included a Blue and White Porcelain Jar with Four Landscape Roundels and a Poem, dating from the 18th century Joseon dynasty, which made $378,000, and Park Sookeun’s oil painting, Playing Children, 1960, which realized $277,200.

The Head of Christie’s Japanese and Korean Art Department, Takaaki Murakami, said: “We achieved excellent results in this sale for works that ranged from the ancient to the modern. Christie’s is proud to of our continued successes in Japanese and Korean art.”