Raise Your Head and See Bliss by artist Xing Dong (Photo: Courtesy of Council Auction)
The past weekend witnessed leading mainland auction house Beijing Council International Auction Company winding up its two-day spring auction with a total trading volume of 1.1 billion yuan ($177 million), much higher than last year's auction.
Similar to its previous seasons, highlights this year were mainly in antique paintings and calligraphy works, a traditional advantageous area for the auction house. The highest earning piece was a Song Dynasty (960-1279) painting bought by famous collector Liu Yiqian for 80.5 million yuan, a record for antique Chinese paintings during this spring auction season in the Chinese mainland market.
Contemporary paintings by art masters also took a firm leading position compared to other artists. Works by Qi Baishi (1864-1957), Pan Tianshou (1897-1971) and other artists from the same generation were generally auctioned at prices much higher than their estimated prices. In a special auction for Qi Baishi's works at Council, six of the artist's works were sold, earning a total of 35.4 million yuan, far higher than the estimated 16.6 million before auction.
Council's auction marks the end of the Spring auction season, which has seen Christie's Hong Kong, Sotheby's Beijing and Poly International Auction also complete their auctions for the first half of this year.
