Million Dollar Zhang

HONG KONG -- A painting by Chinese artist Zhang Daqian, whose work is currently on exhibit at the Guggenheim in New York City, fetched $1.1 million in otherwise conservative bidding at the start of a four-day sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong.

Despite the excitement over the Zhang, participants described the auction's overall mood as cautious, due to an uncertain economic climate.

Zhang's "Hengguan Mountain Road," was painted around 1964 and had a presale estimate of as much as $750,000, according to Sotheby's. Zhang's painting was one of 219 lots sold with total proceeds of approximately $34 million, Le-Min Lim of Bloomberg.com in Hong Kong reports.

"The mood is more subdued than last year," said Tian Kai, an art dealer who flew in from Beijing to bid at the auction. "People are more cautious with their bids."

Buyers in Asia's art market are cautious after a 28 percent fall in China's benchmark CSI 300 Index and a 23 percent drop in Indian stocks in the first quarter. More than in Europe and the U.S., Asia's art market tends to track prevailing financial-market trends, said Cai Mingchao, who paid a record $34 million for a Ming Dynasty bronze Buddha in October 2006.

"At times bidding was measured and careful," said C.K. Cheung, Sotheby's head of Chinese paintings, in a statement. Cheung said he was pleased with the results of the sale.

Top-selling traditional Chinese artworks include paintings by masters such as Zhang (1899-1983) and Xu Beihong (1895-1953):

• Xu's oil painting "Put Down Your Whip,'' depicting street performers in Japanese-occupied Singapore, sold for $9.2 million last April at Christie's International in Hong Kong, setting an auction record for a Chinese painting.
• A record for Zhang's painting was set in October 2002 with "Crimson Lotuses on Gold Screen,'' which sold for $2.5million, according to Sotheby's.

At this auction, works that exceeded estimates include:

• Fu Baoshiâ's "Garden Fete,'' a 1945 ink-and-color painting which fetched $525,000, compared with the top estimate of $75,000;
• Fu Baoshiâ's "Lady by the Willow Tree'' sold for $4 million, compared with a presale top estimate of $150,000;
• Walter Spies's oil painting "Buyansee,'' which fetched $700,000;
• Nyoman Masriadi's "Jago Kandang'' or “Home Champion,” a 2007 acrylic-on-canvas painting depicting a soccer tackle, sold for $3.5 million, a record for a contemporary Southeast Asian painting and more than ten times its presale estimated value of $25,000.

Sotheby's estimates its four-day sale of Ming Dynasty gold, gems and Chinese art will raise more than $16 million.

Click here for Bloomberg.com article Zhang Painting Fetches HK$8.4 Million in Hong Kong.