Christine Ay Tjoe Leads Sotheby's $9.03m 'Modern & Contemporary Art' Auction in Singapore

A work by Christine Ay Tjoe was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Modern & Contemporary Art' auction on January 18 in Singapore .

• The sale totaled $9.03m (SGD12.35m), meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 44 works sold totaling $9.03m.
• Estimates totaled: $8.1m (low) and $17.19m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 77% of the original 57 lots announced.

The star lot was: Christine Ay Tjoe, Lights for the Layer (2011), which sold for $2.15m, 210% above its $693,100 low estimate. It has been traded once in the past.

The sale beat the artist’s previous auction record by $417,300, a 24% rise.

The outperformer sold for 399% above its low estimate. Raden Syarif Bustaman Saleh, Javanese Landscape: View of Talagabodas (Undated), sold for $473,800 ($94,800 low estimate). It has been traded once in the past.

## - 13 works, or 30%, sold above their high estimate.

• 28 works, or 64%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 3 works, or 7%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Auction record

Kim Lim, Ronin (1963), set a new auction record, selling for $122,800. $88,300 above the British-Chinese artist’s previous record sale, a 250% rise.

Works that did not sell

12 works were bought-in, including: Mark Bradford, L.A (2019), estimated at $1.97m (low) to $3.43m (high). It has been traded twice in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

1 work was withdrawn before the sale: Yayoi Kusama, Sunflowers (1989) estimated at $14,600 (low) to $29,200 (high).

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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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