Classical Chinese art on the block

The upcoming Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong features some of the country's rarest treasures, such as The Lotus Sutra from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and an album of landscape paintings and calligraphy by Shitao from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).[Photo provided to China Daily]

The practice follows its launch of classical Chinese paintings sales in New York in 2011, which generated some high prices. A calligraphic album of Ming Dynasty Buddhist sutras sold for $14 million to Shanghai collector Liu Yiqian in 2015.

Steven Zuo, head of Sotheby's classical Chinese paintings department in Asia, tells China Daily that the salesrooms in both New York and Hong Kong attract global bidders, while the Hong Kong auctions highlight the appetite of Asian buyers.

The category of classical Chinese paintings, normally referring to works executed before the 20th century, has performed steadily in the market, while modern ink art has dropped in value amid a market reshuffle since 2014.

A calligraphic letter by Song politician Zeng Gong fetched 207 million yuan ($31.85 million) at a Beijing auction on May 15.

The most expensive classical Chinese ink art sold at auction so far is Di Zhu Ming, a calligraphic hand scroll by Song master Huang Tingjian that grossed 436.8 million yuan in Beijing in 2010.

Zuo says classical paintings, as an important bearer of Chinese cultural traditions, have a mature, stable collecting group. Generally speaking, this is less affected by economic changes than other categories.

The classical Chinese art market doesn't create a lot of bubbles like modern and contemporary art because its "higher threshold" turns away speculators seeking short-term profits, says Tu Xin, a Beijing-based art dealer.

"When you want to know whether a Zhang Daqian piece is genuine or counterfeit, quality or ordinary, you have a stack of his other works for reference," she says, adding that for classical art, few examples are available today, making it difficult for people to judge right from wrong, excellence from a bunch of commonplace works.

"To collect classical pieces, one has to invest much time and energy to increase knowledge and be discerning. A devoted collector is sensible when bidding at auction, and he is unlikely to resell his collections for instant profit."

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn