Pablo Picasso Leads Christie's $72.71m '20th/21st Century Evening Sale' in Hong Kong

A work by Pablo Picasso, which had a guarantee, was the headline sale at Christie's '20th/21st Century Evening Sale' on September 26 in Hong Kong.

• The sale totaled $72.71m (HKD565.6m), meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 35 works sold totaling $72.71m.
• Estimates totaled: $51.42m (low) and $74.19m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 92% of the original 38 lots announced.

The star lot was: Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme (1944), which sold for $25.29m, 128% above its $11.06m low estimate. The work was backed by a guarantee. It has been traded 8 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 534% above its low estimate. Salvo, Spring Morning (2007), sold for $653,000 ($102,800 low estimate). It has been traded twice in the past.

• 14 works, or 40%, sold above their high estimate.
• 18 works, or 51%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 3 works, or 9%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

7 works were backed by guarantees, including: Walter Spies, Pagodenlandschaft (Landscape with a Pagoda by a Lake) (1929). It sold for $3.36m, 30% above its $2.57m low estimate.. It has been traded 3 times in the past.

Works that did not sell

3 works were bought-in, including: David Hockney, Table with Conversation (1988), estimated at $5.14m (low) to $7.71m (high). It has been traded 7 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Estimates, sale prices and totals are converted into US dollars. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.