Chinese billionaire buys HK$114m Song dynasty vase at Hong Kong auction
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 07 April, 2015, 4:40pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 07 April, 2015, 7:46pm
Vivienne Chow [email protected]
Deputy chairman for Sotheby’s Asia and the International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Nicolas Chow, displays a Guan octagonal vase bought by tycoon Liu Yiqian for HK$114 million. Photo: AFP
Shanghai billionaire Liu Yiqian splashed out nearly HK$114 million on a Song dynasty vase at a Hong Kong auction today, adding to a Chinese art collection that includes a Tibetan tapestry bought for a record HK$348.4 million last year.
The Guan vase from the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), belonging to a Japanese collection, went on sale at Sotheby’s spring auctions in the city today with a pre-sale estimate of HK$60 million.
Liu, a taxi-driver-turned-financier who is one of China’s biggest collectors of art, beat seven other bidders with a HK$113.9 million offer.
Sotheby’s said it was the third-highest price paid for Song ceramics at auction.
The current record holder is a Ru Guanyao brush-washer from the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). It was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in the city in 2012 for nearly HK$208 million.
Liu, estimated to be worth US$1.37 billion by Forbes magazine, has been one of the most recognisable faces at art auctions in recent years.
Last November he paid more than HK$348 million for a 600-year-old embroidered silk thangka at an auction in Hong Kong, setting a new record for a Chinese work of art.
Tycoon Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei founded the Long Museum in Shanghai. Photo: AFP
This broke the record he set last April, when he placed a HK$281 million-winning bid for the Meiyintang Chenghua “chicken cup” at another auction in the city.
Last month, Liu paid HK$108 million for a 600-year-old album of Ming dynasty (1368-1644) Buddhist art and calligraphy at auction in New York.
Liu, chairman of Sunline Group in Shanghai, founded the Long Museum in Pudong with his wife Wang Wei, also a well-known figure in the art world.
Liu said last year he hoped to bring the thangka and the chicken cup to his museum and preserve the historic works there. He was photographed drinking tea from the multimillion-dollar cup.
Nine bidders competed for a Qing dynasty white jade seal from the Yongzheng period today at the same auction. It fetched nearly HK$105 million, more than three times the pre-sale estimate of HK$30 million.
