Zhang Daqian Painting Sets Record at Sotheby’s Auction in Hong Kong
By Amy Qin

BEIJING – The slumping art auction market received a boost Tuesday when a painting by the 20th-century Chinese artist Zhang Daqian sold for a record $34.7 million including buyer’s premium at the first part of Sotheby’s Fine Chinese Paintings sale in Hong Kong.

The painting, a 1982 hanging scroll titled “Peach Blossom Spring,” sold for more than four times its high estimate of $8.3 million (not including buyer’s premium), setting a world auction record for the artist, who was already one of China’s highest-grossing artists at auction.

The floor was packed when the hammer finally came down in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center after an intense 50-minute session that saw more than 100 bids come in from the floor and via telephone.

The splashed ink and color painting ultimately went to Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei, founders of the Long Museum in Shanghai and the mainland Chinese power collector couple behind last November’s blockbuster purchase of a painting by the early-20th-century artist Amedeo Modigliani.

In the past two years Mr. Liu and Ms. Wang have shown a penchant for setting auction records. Mr. Liu bought the Modigliani painting for $170.4 million with fees, the second-highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction.

Mr. Liu, a former taxi driver turned billionaire, also set the record for a Chinese artwork sold at international auction when he paid $45 million for a Ming dynasty silk thangka at a Christie’s auction in 2014, breaking the record he set only months earlier when he bought a tiny porcelain “chicken cup” for $36.3 million at a Sotheby’s sale in Hong Kong.

“Peach Blossom Spring” is considered to be one of the most important late-career works by Mr. Zhang, who died in 1983. In purchasing the work Mr. Liu will be bringing the landscape painting back to Asia from the Mactaggart Art Collection of the University of Alberta Museums.

“Nothing beats a painting by Zhang Daqian!” Mr. Liu said in a post on his WeChat social media account, adding that it was the first time he had hung up the phone during the bidding, only to call back because he liked the painting so much.

The reports of strong sales at auctions and at Art Basel Hong Kong last month come amid concerns about the impact of the economic slowdown and a continuing anti-corruption campaign in China on art buying. Total sales in the Chinese market dropped 23 percent to $11.8 billion in 2015, according to the annual art market report published by the European Fine Art Foundation in March.

Earlier this week a work by Mr. Zhang was the top lot at another Sotheby’s sale, when a 1946 hanging scroll by the artist called “Leisure Stroll Through Mountains” sold for $2.2 million to a private Asian collector.

World auction records were also reached for several artists at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Asian Art sale, including Wang Huaiqing’s “Feet 2” which fetched $7 million and was the top lot of that evening sale. Sotheby’s spring auctions in Hong Kong continue through Wednesday.

張大千桃源圖 11億成交

香港進入「春拍」高潮，多家拍賣公司的拍賣品均創下紀錄。張大千晚年在台灣創作的重要作品「桃源圖」，拍出兩億四千萬港元的高價，買家也隨即曝光，又是上海富豪收藏家劉益謙。

昨天舉行的香港蘇富比中國書畫二○一六春季拍賣會上，張大千晚年潑墨潑彩畫作「桃源圖」，作為蘇富比中國書畫歷來估值最高的拍品，以及這場拍賣會的焦點，最後以兩億四千萬港元（約台幣十一點三億)拍出，加上佣金，買家要支付兩億七千萬港元。

今年三月中，蘇富比在香港向媒體預展拍品時，說「桃源圖」估值為五千萬至六千五百萬港元，這已經是蘇富比中國書畫部的專家歷來估值最高的拍品。這幅畫第二次在蘇富比拍賣會上現身，一九八七年蘇富比首度拍賣這張畫，成交價是一百八十七萬港元，已創下當年中國近現代書畫的拍賣紀錄。

一般慣例，拍賣公司不公布買家身分，大多數買家也不願曝光，但這次買家又主動曝光，他是上海富豪收藏家劉益謙。

劉益謙競投戰後，在微信中說：「苦戰了差不多一小時，第一次為競拍一件作品掛了電話，又三次打電話給程壽康競拍，實在是喜歡這張畫，兩億四千萬競拍成功，大千問世，誰與爭鋒！」

劉益謙在中國新富豪中也是傳奇人物，當過計程車司機，因炒股而發達，現在的主要身分是大陸新理益集團有限公司董事長、天茂實業集團股份有限公司董事長，在中國新富豪中，他三年前曾以一百七十億元人民幣的身家排名卅。

現在最愛用上海「龍美術館」創辦人身分現身的劉益謙，極愛收藏，且每年至少買一件價格昂貴破紀錄的拍品。去年三月，劉益謙以一千四百零二萬六千美元，拍得一件明代佛經，是當屆紐約亞洲藝術周期間最昂貴的拍品，乃亞洲以外地區拍賣價格最高的中國書畫作品；再往前一年的四月，他以兩億八千多萬港元拍下玫茵堂珍藏明成化鬥彩雞缸杯，刷新中國瓷器世界拍賣紀錄，他還立即使用新拍的杯子喝茶。

聲稱「只買最貴的」，劉益謙數度打破中國文物收藏的拍賣紀錄，他自認是因其有特別故事，如這次的「桃源圖」，蘇富比中國書畫部主管張超群說，這是大師晚年台灣時期作品，在其潑彩作品中堪稱經典。

原文參照：
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/zhang-daqian-painting-sets-record-at-sothebys-auction-in-hong-kong/

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytstyle.com/culture/20160406/t06artsbeat-zhang/zh-hant/

2016-04-06．聯合報．A12．兩岸．香港特派員李春