At the end of the year, auction houses publish their annual report data one after another. Looking at the data, the total turnover of major auction houses is also lower than in previous years. 2023 has indeed been a difficult year for art trading. Experiencing high interest rates, stubborn inflation, and ongoing global economic uncertainty, collectors have become more cautious in their art collecting and investing, which shows how much downward pressure the market is facing. It seems that in 2024, the front of the deep adjustment period of the art market is still extended.
Today, I circled my seven key words for the Chinese art market in 2023, and gave the officials a little bit of the market trend in 2024.
China Guardian 2023 Autumn Auction site.
Stable midstream. In 2023, the number of lots in the 100 million and 10 million categories decreased, but the overall auction rate exceeded expectations, which depends on the timely adjustment of the lot structure. Auction houses invariably "put strong medicine" in the midstream price range, such as increasing the proportion of midstream lots such as millions and hundreds of thousands. While the sale of ** lots can boost overall market confidence, the mid-to-low-end lot market is also worth paying attention to. In 2023, the mid-range lots of 500,000-5 million will be stable, which is the key area for collectors. As the information symmetry of the market becomes higher and higher, and the appreciation level of collectors gradually increases, they no longer blindly chase the rise, but become more and more rational in their shots, and make decisive moves on raw goods with high cost performance and cheap prices.
lot 3257
Qing Qianlong pink blue glazed gourd bottle.
Qianlong year of the Qing Dynasty "six-character three-line seal book, Qianlong Dynasty.
With wooden seats. h 32.4 cm
Transaction price: 2.3 million yuan.
*: China Guardian 2023 Spring Auction.
Boutique first. Although the transaction prices of many "general goods" are not satisfactory, the rare and rare masterpieces are still very popular, especially the masterpieces, which have become the focus of competition among high-net-worth collectors as soon as they appear. For example, in Christie's Hong Kong autumn auction, Sanyu's "Nude Woman Lying on the Carpet" won 1HK$8.7 billion sold; Beijing Poly Spring Auction, Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengfu Xiaokai "Linhuang Tingjing" to 181.7 billion yuan was sold, and Emperor Qianlong's inscription and Jin Ting's painting "Praise of Fifty Heroes of the Western Regions of Pacification" were sold for 92 million yuan; China Guardian Autumn Auction, Yuan Dynasty Wang Meng's "Diyan Picture" with 28.8 billion yuan sold; Beijing Yongle Autumn Auction, Yun Shouping's "Crane Picture and Two Letters to Wang Hui" in the early Qing Dynasty was sold for 51.75 million yuan; In Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, 100% of the 40 lots sold in the "Tianmin Lou Tibetan Porcelain" sale, with a total turnover of 99.98 million yuan, of which two lots exceeded 10 million yuan.
Sanyu's "Naked Woman on the Carpet".
Sold for 1HK$873.7 billion.
*: Christie's Hong Kong Autumn 2023.
Emperor Qianlong inscribed praise, Jin Ting painted "Fifty Heroes of the Western Regions of Pacification".
Transaction price: 92 million yuan.
*: Beijing Poly 2023 Spring Auction.
Wang Meng's "Ink Painting".
Sold for 28.8 billion yuan.
*: China Guardian Autumn 2023 Auctions.
The difference between high-quality goods and general goods is more obvious in Zhang Daqian, in the 2023 Guardian Spring Auction, a 2The 4-square-foot Zhang Daqian's character sketch "Little Heqing" sold for 47.15 million yuan, with an average of 19.64 million yuan per square foot; Another 2-square-foot Zhang Daqian's figure painting "Coats Picture" is 19550,000 yuan was sold, with an average of only 9 per square foot70,000 yuan. "Little Crane Qing" is valuable for the exquisiteness of the work, the continuous inheritance and the interesting story behind the work.
Zhang Daqian, "Little Heqing".
Transaction price: 47.15 million yuan.
*: China Guardian 2023 Spring Auction.
Even famous Pupin such as Zhang Daqian and Fu Baoshi have also been unsold. It can be seen that after nearly 10 years of market reshuffle, collectors' eyes are more vicious, and ordinary goods cannot enter the eyes of the law, for them, they would rather chase an artist's masterpiece, raw goods, and works that have been circulated and have interesting stories, and will not be interested in a low-priced general product or entertainment work.
Avoid the high and the low. In 2023, the three core sectors of calligraphy and painting, porcelain, and modern and contemporary art will be scarce, and the increase in low prices will be obvious. On the one hand, due to the lack of clarity on the direction of the economy, many unfavorable factors have caused tight market liquidity. In the last round of market boom, many collectors and institutions have a lot of works, for any collector and institution, the backlog of funds for many years is difficult to digest, which makes last year's collectors ship and return funds significantly increased, such as in the second half of 2023, Liu Yiqian & Wang Wei couple, Wang Haitao and other senior collectors began to sell a large number of them; But on the other hand, buyers are also very cautious, adopting a wait-and-see or low-buying strategy, they are more inclined to avoid risks and reduce impulse buying, so there is a phenomenon of "avoiding high and low". This has led to a polarization in the art market, where high-quality works are more sought after, while cheaper and high-quality works are left out in the cold.
Sotheby's "Dragon Journey: Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei Collection" special auction site.
The new favorite of the market. In 2023, the market will focus on the younger generation of artists, such as Christie's Hong Kong's "Post-Millennium Evening Sale", Sotheby's Hong Kong's "Contemporary Art Night Sale", Phillips Hong Kong's "20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale", Beijing Poly's "Chinese New Painting Night Sale", China Guardian's "Contemporary Art Night Sale", Yongle Auction's "Now is the Future: New Paintings from a Global Perspective", Huayi International's "Post-70s + Ultra-Contemporary Theme", etc., some of the new artists have achieved great results. The work broke into the million-level list at a high premium. In this list of new favorites, in addition to Huang Yuxing, Wang Junjie (Chinese), Ouyang Chun, Chen Fei, Qiu Xiaofei, Chen Ke, Ji Xin and other "post-70s" and "post-80s" artists, there are also "post-90s" artists such as Xuan Shanqin, Zhang Zipiao, Sun Yitian, Gao Ludi, Zhang Yuewei, Zhang Ji, Chen Yingjie, etc. The main force of the future market must be young artists, but the final list needs to be further screened by the market and history.
Huang Yuxing, "Nine Dragons".
Sold price: 20.7 million yuan (artist second**).
*: China Guardian 2023 Spring Auction.
Chen Ke "Matador".
Sold for 90850,000 yuan (setting a new auction record for the artist).
*: Beijing Yongle 2023 Spring Auction.
Ji Xin, "Floor Lamp and Iris".
Realized: 2.3 million yuan (setting a new auction record for the artist).
*: China Guardian 2023 Spring Auction.
Differentiation "competition."
The special special sessions launched by various auction houses in 2023 are also a major attraction in 2023. For example, China Guardian Hong Kong Autumn Auction presented the special session of "Young Marshal Moyuan - Treasures of the Zhang Family", the special session of "Linfeng - Xiaogushan Museum Collection and Bamboo Ware" launched by China Trade Shengjia Spring Auction, the special session of "Historical Master Chen Yuan's Book of the Last Paragraph" of Xiling Auction 2023, and the special session of "Datang Depository" of Guangdong Chongzheng Autumn Auction, etc., all of which have received excellent answers.
In recent years, special features have become popular in auction venues and are highly sought after by buyers. First, most of the special lots are reliable, inherited in an orderly manner, and buyers can buy with confidence; The second is the best advantage of the special session. Featured special estimates are cost-effective, some even have no reserve price, and some of them are small but of high quality, making them attractive to buyers. Therefore, the special sale has also become a weapon of competition between major auction houses, and it is a trump card to attract collectors to enter.
Aesthetic transformation. The strongest feeling in 2023 is also the generational change and aesthetic change. The auction industry has entered a new era dominated by rational collecting, and the group of collectors in the art auction market in 2023 is younger than in the past. More and more young people are paying attention to the art market and becoming collectors or investors. They usually have a high educational background and aesthetic taste, and have unique insights and pursuits for art, and they will not be easily coerced, fooled, and led astray. "The price is high" is no longer the "golden rule" of the new generation of collectors, who are more interested in the art that is happening at the moment, and they pay more attention to and return to the essence of art. "Buy what you like. ”
The aesthetic taste of collectors has always been the vane of the market, and the rising rise of this young group has gradually affected the creation of artists and the selection of works by auction houses, and we can foresee that the future of artistic aesthetics will be more diversified and personalized.
Christie's Hong Kong Autumn 2023 auction saw a 10% increase in new sellers
Optimistic expectations. Although the art market has slowed down, it still has confidence and resilience. The auction houses have released their 2024 auction schedules, which for us is not only a routine announcement, but also a bellwether and trend guide for the art market. Charles F., CEO of Sotheby's GlobalStewart said, "While the art and luxury market continues to be affected by a challenging market environment, we are pleased to see continued strong demand for high-quality, orderly, first-time artworks that are available at auction for the first time. Jonathan Crockett, Chairman of Phillips Asia, said: "Despite the challenging macro environment of the last year, our auction results in Asia have been resilient and Asian collectors continue to be active in Phillips' global auctions. Looking ahead to 2024, we look forward to launching a new auction schedule in Asia, with more auctions and a diverse content programme to attract collectors. ”
According to the 2023 Art Basel and UBS Global Art Collections Survey, 77% of high-net-worth collectors are optimistic about the performance of the art market in 2024. The majority of collectors (54%) plan to buy art in 2024, the same as in 2022. This bodes well for the art market.
Copyright Notice] The original content of this statement published on WeChat is the exclusive original of "Collection and Auction", and it is not allowed to be used without authorization.