NEW YORK—This spring’s New York Asia Week auctions opened with three sales of Chinese art that produced a startling series of highs and lows. The highest of highs was Christie’s March 18 sale of Chinese works from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, where 198 of 199 lots found buyers for a total of $10,872,800, far above pre-sale expectations of $3.5–5.2 million. Bookending this auction were two sales of Chinese ceramics and works of art, at Sotheby’s on March 17 and in two parts at Christie’s, later in the day on March 18 and on the afternoon of March 19. The results were decidedly lukewarm for Sotheby’s and astonishingly good for Christie’s, thanks for a treasure trove of fresh material culled from distinguished private and institutional collections.

Despite these varied results, some general principles emerged: While always important, quality, rarity, and provenance, watchwords at all three sales, appeared more valuable than ever. And while top pieces attracted many bidders in the room, on the telephone, and even on the Internet — an encouraging sign for a market struggling to find its footing amid an economic crisis — the middle market continues to have a difficult time.

Sotheby’s
There were no real surprises at Sotheby’s pared-down, one-session sale of Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art on March 17. The finest pieces performed very well and the rest languished, as might be expected in this extremely skittish market. The 163-lot sale offered a little bit of everything: porcelain, lacquer ware, sculpture, jade, paintings, and furniture. The top two lots were ceramics from the Gordon Getty Collection. One, a rare pair of famille-rose jars (Qianlong mark and period) depicting the Eight Daoist Immortals crossing the sea, fetched $632,500 (est. $300–400,000), while the second, a famille-rose lantern shaped vase (Qianlong mark and period) depicting boys at play, brought in $602,500 (est. $300–500,000). Both sold to the same Asian collector.

Other top earners included a beautiful black and colored ink–on-silk painting by Hua Xuan, Eight Beauties (c. 1736), which sold to London dealers Littleton & Hennessey Asian Art for $373,000 (est. $200–300,000), and The Conquests of the Emperor Qianlong, a set of 16 engravings and 18 panels of calligraphy composed and written by the emperor and bearing the seal of the Imperial library, from 1769–74. The latter piece attracted many bidders before selling to a Chinese dealer for $164,500 (est. $39–40,000).

Chief among the unsold lots was a very large Qing dynasty automaton of “Figures and Landscape,” also consigned by Gordon Getty. Because of its large size and extreme rarity, the surreal 19th-century work would have needed a special buyer — unfortunately, it automaton sank without a single bid at $200,000 (est. $250–300,000).

Also failing to sell was a carved pale celadon marriage bowl from the Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (est. $400–600,000).

The auction earned a total of $4,018,939, barely within the pre-sale estimate of $3.9–5.6 million. Of the 163 lots offered, only 93 found buyers, for a sold rate of 59 percent by lot and 69 percent by value.

Caroline Schulten, a specialist in Chinese works of art at Sotheby’s New York, offered one positive take on the fairly gloomy results, saying, “Overall, we were encouraged by the number of new buyers competing for many of our top lots.”

Christie’s
Fine Chinese Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections
Christie’s had the lion’s share of great material this Asia Week, with a plethora of works coming from distinguished private collections and institutions. Highlights of the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, sold in a single session on March 18, included archaic jades, bronzes, and classical paintings; there was also furniture, but that was of a lesser quality than the other categories, and, as such, did not do very well. The sale was the first of several consigned by the Arthur M. Sackler Collections Trust from its part of the enormous holdings amassed over many decades by the late art collector, patron, and philanthropist.