Chinese Auctions Still Slow After Earthquake

BEIJING—Auctions continue to suffer in China in the wake of the May 12 earthquake, the country's worst natural disaster since 1976. Last night at a Poly International Auction Co. sale, half of the 72 paintings on offer failed to reach their top estimates, and about a quarter failed to sell at all, including two by high-profile artist Chen Yifei, reports Bloomberg. The Duet, a photo-realist painting of a pianist and cellist, and the largest work in Chen's "Musicians" series, rose to 17.5 million yuan ($2.5 million), below the reserve price.

The total sales for the session fell 18 percent from last year, to 196 million yuan ($28 million). "People are going for quality," said Hadrien de Montferrand, marketing manager of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, "so the mediocre works are finding it hard to generate enthusiasm."

But even works by top Chinese artists failed to reach their estimates, including Zhang Xiaogang's Living and Dying: Tomorrow is Coming, which elicited a top bid of 6.8 million yuan, also below the reserve. His "Amnesia and Memory" series sold for 2 million yuan, barely over the reserve.

The top official sale for the evening was 9.8 million yuan for Zao Wou-ki's 1.12.81, while three works were auctioned twice after failing to meet reserve prices the first time around. One of these, Wang Huaiging's South/North/West/East, received the evening's top bid of 21 million yuan on its second attempt.