Hong Kong Sales Give Sotheby’s a Boost

Sotheby’s sales in Hong Kong this week gave the auction house something to smile about. It was their best performance in the city for three years and a further sign that the Asian market is improving.

Paintings by Yoshitomo Nara and Lee Ufan were the big-ticket works in the auction house’s evening and day sales on September 28 and 29.

Both works were backed by guarantees: Nara's Can't Wait 'til the Night Comes (2012) sold for $10.27m, 22% above its low estimate while Ufan's Response (2021) sold for $849,000, 65% above its low estimate.

Auction grades

Together the sales scored a C+ on the HENI Auction Index, a unique algorithm that benchmarks auction performance based on 10+ metrics. This was an improvement on its C- score in March.

Total sales and sell-through rate are standard measurements, but a broader range of metrics gives a clearer view of auction performance over time.

Sotheby’s results showed strong gains in some metrics, particularly in new artists’ auction records, which doubled compared with its March sales in Hong Kong.

Among them was Li Hei Di, the London-based Chinese artist who is represented by Pace. Their auction record jumped 91% to $342,800.

For the first time since April 2023, the auction house saw increases in the number of lots sold and its sales totals.

On a less positive note, since works sold on average at roughly the midpoint between the low and high estimates, the average ratio of the hammer price to the mid-estimate showed no improvement.

Also, a star lot was among the works withdrawn by their consignors: Zeng Fanzhi’s Society No. 3 (2001), which had a low estimate of $1.8m.

Overall the uptick at Sotheby’s echoed Christie’s Hong Kong sales, which were also its best for the past three years. For more, see here.

Artists' auction records

Total sales (real $) and total lots sold

Average hammer to mid-estimate ratio

Sotheby's September HK sales vs comparable sales

Methodology: for how the HENI Auction Index classifies sales, see here