"Rationality" Returns at Chinese Auction

BEIJING—China's buying frenzy slowed at Poly Auction Co. last night after the Chinese stock market dropped to the lowest it's been since at least 1995, reports Bloomberg.  

The auction saw two works by market favorite Zhang Xiaogang fail to sell and only a third of the 78 paintings on offer reach their top estimate. The top sale of the evening was Wu Guangzhong's 1975 Hibiscus, for 35 million yuan ($4.7 million).

"Rationality is returning to the market,'' said Michael Wang, CEO of the Taipei-based My Humble House Art Space. "Great works of art continue to get prices they deserve while mediocrity gets ignored—that's how the market should work."

Indeed, some works more than exceeded expectations last night, with Liu Xiaodong's 1990 work The Joke going for 10.8 million yuan, more than twice its top estimate.