NEW YORK – Asian Art Week totaled  $51,846,914. A total of 1,078 lots were sold, achieving 149 percent hammer above low estimate, with a sell-through rate of 84 percent. More than one in five buyers was new to the category at Christie’s. It was a week in which Christie’s set eight records for artists including Francis Newton Souza and Katsushika Hokusai, the Chinese Works of Art sales showed the strength in ceramics and for single-owner collections. The top lot of the week was Souza’s The Lovers sold for $4,890,000.

Co-Chairman of Asian Art, Christie’s, Tina Zonars said: “In sale after sale, across categories, our specialists displayed their expertise by finding high quality works, positioning them perfectly, and telling their compelling stories. We set records for Francis Newton Souza and Hokusai and demonstrated the strength of the Chinese Works of Art market as ceramics and single owner collections such as Dorothy Tapper Goldman triumphed. We look forward to another robust season in September."  

Auction Review: Live sales 

Japanese and Korean Art
19 March 2024 
  
Japanese and Korean Art totaled $6,662,254, selling 112% of its low estimate, and 81% by lot. The day’s top lot was a complete set of Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai, which made $3,559,000, setting a new world record for the artist at auction, breaking the old record set by Christie’s last year. Other top results included Hokusai’s iconic image, Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa, which achieved $693,000, more than 4.5 times its low estimate. Hokusai’s Storm below the summit, also known as "Black Fuji" more than doubled its low estimate, achieving $214,200. Lee Ufan’s Untitled, 1985 also doubled its low estimate, realizing $138,600. Utagawa Hiroshige’s Yellow rose (Yamabuki) and frogs sold for more than 16-times its low estimate, achieving $32,760.

Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art
20 March 2024 

Featuring a wide selection of works from across India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia, the sale totaled $1,231,020. Highlights included a large gilt-bronze figure of Amitabha of the 15th-16th century in Tibet, which made $239,400; a gilt-bronze figure of  Chakrasamvara from Nepal in the 15th Century, which brought $201,600; and a portrait of Kashmir Darners, from Punjab, which made $107,100.  

South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Including Works from the Collection of Umesh and Sunanda Gaur
20 March 2024 
 
The sale totaled $19,721,120. It was 100 percent sold by lot, and 310 percent by low estimate. The sale was a celebration of the 100th birth anniversary of Francis Newton Souza, and fittingly, Christie’s set a new record for the artist, when Souza’s The Lovers sold for $4,890,000. Other highlights included Souza’s Priest with Chalice, which sold for $3,922,000. Gulammohammed Sheikh’s Portrait of a Tree realized $1,381,000, nine-times its low estimate. Souza’s Men in Boats sold for $693,000, and Manjit Bawa’s Untitled more than doubled its low estimate, realizing $693,000, while Souza’s Untitled (Head of a Cardinal) achieved $630,000. Christie’s set records for a print by Gulammohammed Sheikh; Jyotsna Bhatt; Amol Patil; a work on paper by Manish Nai; Bijoy Jain.

Important Chinese Art Including the Collection of Dorothy Tapper Goldman
21–22 March 2024
 
Two days of competitive bidding from around the world and a packed saleroom, resulted in a total of $19,128,134, 123% hammer above low estimate, and 85% by lot. There was strong participation from buyers worldwide. The Collection of Dorothy Tapper Goldman made 330 percent of its low estimate, with 93 percent of lots sold, showing real strength for single-owner collections. The top lot was a superb and very rare Ge Foliate Dish from the Southern Song-Yuan Dynasty (1127-1368), which realized $1,865,000. Additional top lots included a large blue and white 'Dragon' dish with Yongzheng six-character mark (1723-1735), which nearly tripled its low estimate, selling for $819,000. A rare and finely-cast Imperial gilt-bronze figure of Seated Amitayus from the Kangxi Period (1662-1722) sold for $781,200, and a rare green marble-inset Huanghuali wine table from the 17th Century achieved nearly five-times its low estimate, selling for $730,8000. 

Auction Review: Online sales 

Landscapes of Japan: Woodblock Prints from Edo to Post-War
13–26 March 2024
 
The sale totaled $1,228,374, was 99 percent sold by lot, and 158 percent hammer above low estimate. It featured works by the grand masters of Japanese woodblock prints on landscape, from Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige to Kawase Hasui and Yoshida Hiroshi.

South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Online
13–27 March 2024

A wide variety of works across diverse genres and media totaled $1,655,514 and was 91 percent sold by lot and 174 percent hammer by low estimate. The sale included property from the renowned collections of Umesh and Sunanda Gaur and Mahinder and Sharad Tak. Works by modernists Maqbool Fida Husain, Sayed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza, Bal Chhabda and Manjit Bawa are offered alongside significant lots by Atul Dodiya, Paresh Maity and Jangarh Singh Shyam, to name only a few artists.

Arts of Asia Online
13–28 March 2024
 
This carefully curated selection spanning India, the Himalayas, China, Korea, and Japan totaled $1,424,682 and was 95 percent sold by low estimate. Highlights included a selection of Chinese porcelain from the collection of Dr. Hiroshi Horiuchi, a fine selection of Japanese inro, and curated groupings of Himalayan bronze sculpture and Indian court paintings from prestigious private collections. With a wide range of estimates, Arts of Asia Online presents opportunities for both burgeoning and established collectors of Asian art.

Chinese Works of Art from the Collection of Dorothy Tapper Goldman
13–29 March 2024
 
The online portion of the this single-owner collection showed the strength of this type of sale, totaling $795,816, which was 168 hammer above low estimate and 96 percent sold by lot. The sale comprised 120 lots that ranged from contemporary Chinese paintings, to Dehua wares, to monochrome porcelains, works of art, and scholar’s objects.