A cross three days and seven live sales this past weekend, as Typhoon Koinu – skirti🌄ng as close as 70km to the city on Sunday night – picked up speed and thrashed through Hong Kong with strong winds and heavy rain, Chinese art thrived through it all.

The sale of Chinese Works of Art, Chinese Classical Paintings and Modern Chinese Paintings – which round💯ed out Sotheby’s Hong Kong 50th Anniversary Autumn Sales – collectively achieved HK$1.02 billion (US$129.93 million). Auctions continued as scheduled despite the deluge, and the saleroom at the Hong Kong Convention a🉐nd Exhibition Centre proved Chinese art collectors are a force to be reckoned with.

Sunday morning saw a full house in the saleroom despite observatory warnings of the city’s weather deteriorating. The attendance reflected the high regard Chinese art enthusiasts and collectors hold for the man behind The Leshantang Collection – Trꦐeasures of Chines𓆏e Art from the Tsai I-Ming.

One of the most celebrated con♊noisseurs of Chinese art and anꦅtiques, Tsai assembled a collection over⭕ nearly half a century that reflected his own bold and generous spirit✱.

Presenting 40 lots of impeccable Chin𝔉ese works of art, paintings and calligraphies, The Leshantang Collection achieved HK$216,670,900 (US$27,666,707). Among the Chinese ceramics offered, all 16 lots hammered at or above estimates.

The star lot of the sale, a possibly u♒nique famille𝕴-rose and doucai moon flask, seal mark and period of Yongzheng, surpassed pre-sale estimates fetchi🅠ng HK$45,220,000 (൲US$5,774,142).

Several pieces quickly soared above high estimates within seconds of the lot opening for bidding. Among them, a rare b༺lue-ground yellow and green-enamelled inꦐcised ‘dragon’ bowl from the Zhengde period hammered at four times the high estimate, bringing in HK$4,064,000 (US$518,932), while a peachbloom-glazed beehive waterpot from tꦇhe Kangxi per🧜iod fetched🧸 HK$4,191,000 (US$535,149), well above the 🔥HK$500,000 low estimate.

A bidding battle ensued for 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Poems in Running Script by Huang Daozhou. Attracting a flurry of bids on the phone, online and in the room, the 17th century handscroll sold for HK$29,490,000 (US$3,765,578), nearly four times its pre-sale estimate. Also coincidentally achieving the same total price was Zhang Daqian’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Dragon Maiden Worshipping Buddha. Executed in 1948 in the Dunhuang mural painting style, the ink and colour features a captivating red pigment arising fro♍m a rare ore near Dunhuang that tu💖rned a vivid red when ground up.

On Saturday, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Fine Classical Chinese Paintings kicked-off the season’s offerings of Chinese art, raking in HK$176,230,390 (US$22,504,621) – its second highest total since spring 2018. Among the standout results, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Painting of Yunchuan, a 16th century handscroll by Lu Zhi sailed past its HK$10 million low estimate to sell for HK$42,800,000 (US$5,465,560). Drawing keen interest and heavy bidding, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Landscape, a hanging scroll by Fang Cong bearing the seals of the Qianloꩵng Emperor and Jiaqing Emperor, achieved HK$11,945,000 (US$1,525,376), nearly 12 times the low estimate.

On Sunday, as the typhoon raged on, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Fine Chinese Paintings surpassed its pre-sale high estimate of HK$212 million, achieving HK$301,820,980 (US$38,539,521) with a sell-through rate of 97.3% by value. Headlining the sale was Zhang Daqian’s 1968 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Verdant Mountains of Summer Spirit. The splashed colour masterpiece sawཧ more than 40 bids placed and fetc🌟hed HK$86,192,500 (US$11,005,920), four times its low estimate.

This was one of three works making their auction debut from the private collection of Cornelius Vander Starr (1892-1968), the American magnate and founder of the insurance company now known as AIG. On his deathbed, Starr bestowed his collection upon K.K. Tse (1907-88), an employee with whom Star🍌r ♕shared a 40-year-long partnership and camaraderie.

Achieving five of the top ten lots in the sale, Zhang’s masterful ink works proved to remain highly sought after. 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Fishing in Autumn Mountains, a beautiful small ink painting measuring just 26.3 x 23.8 cm from the collection of Wong Nan-Ping’s daughter, Karen Wang, sold for HK$5,969,999 (US$762,182), more than double pre-sale estimates. While from the collection of Chang Chun, a prominent figure in modern Chinese history, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Calligraphy Couplet in Xingshu more than quadrupled its high estimate, bringing in H♏K$6🍃,477,000 (US$827,048).

The momentum of the Chinese art sales – not to mention the typhoon that had subsequently brought Hong Kong to a standstill with a black rainstorm signal – continued on Monday with Hea🐲ven and Earth: The Collection of an Aesthete, Part 1, Kara𓂃mono: Heirlooms of Chinese Art from Medieval Japan, and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:A Magnifice🉐nt Y𓆉ongle Blue and White Moon Flask.

Presented as a single-lot sale, 168🌄开奖官方开奖网站查询:A Magnificent Yongle Blue and White Moon Flask attrꦕacted a bidding battle lasting nearly 20 minutes and more than 25 bids placed. Exceeding pre-sale estimates, the exceptionally rare moon flask raked in HK$85,618,000 (US$10,932,562), selling to a bidder on the phone with Nicolas Chow (Sotheby’s Chairman Asia).

Karamono featured lots arising from several important private collections. Among the nine pieces deaccessioned from the collection of the Daikomyo-ji Temple in Kyoto in efforts to raise essential funds for the construction of its new residence hall (Kuri), 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:a Longquan celadon pear-shaped vase saw fierce bidding and more than 20 bids bringing in HK$571,500 (US$57,460), while 168开奖官方开奖网站ᩚᩚᩚ🦩ᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ查询:an heirloom Jian 'nogime tenmoku’ tea bowl fetched HK$2,794,000 (US$356,766).

Once belonging to the Kuroda family collection, an heirloom Jian russet-st𝓡reaked ‘nogime tenmoku’ tea bowl became the second highest lot of the sale, achieving HK$4,572,000 (US$583,799), while the top lot sold for HK$4,826,000 (US$616,232) for 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:an hᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚeirloom Jian ‘nogime tenmoku’ tea bowl🎐 once belonging to the eminent Meiji-period master of tea ceremony Baron F🌠ujita Denzaburō.

From 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Important Chinese Art, standouts include a possibly unꦿique carved celadron glazed ‘dragon’ meiping vase from the Qianlong period which fetched HK$47,640,000 (US$6,083,152) and a Qing dynasty zitan ‘dragon’ ꦰcompound cabinet from the Kangxi period. After more than 20 bids placed, the cabinet sold to a bid💛der in the room for HK$54,595,000 (US$6,971,236), making it the top lot achieved for🔜 the sale.

Other notable results above HK$7.8 million (US$1 million)…

• 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Figures by Qi Baishi fetched HK$7,874,000 (US$1,005,431), more than six times its low estimate.
  
• Lu Yanshao’s 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Autumn of Wu Gorge realised HK$18,600,000 (US$2,375,034).
  
• 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Landscape after Wang Gongwang by Xu Yang exceeded estimates, achieving HK$25,860,000 (US$3,302,322).
  
• 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:An album of 16 leaves with eight landscapes by Dong Bangda alongside eight imperial poems by the Qianlong Emperor sold for HK$13,760,000 (US$1,757,152).
  
• From The Leshangtang Collection, Zheng Min’s A Panoramic View of Mountains and Rivers after Jianjiang after Huang Gongwang sold for HK$10,130,000 (US$1,293,500).
  
• Xiang Shengmo, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:House of Heavenly Fragrance, which sold for HK$37,355,000 (US$4,769,860).
  

As 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:The Hong Kong Autumn Sales draws to a close, explore more in 168开奖💦官方开奖网站查询:Chinese Art Online: A Private Asian Collec𒈔tion (10–18 October), showcasing bronze ritual vessels, utilitarian objects, gold and silver wares, as well as Tang sancai wares dating to the late Shang Dynasty to the Eastern Zhou period.