“Our results of the past week in Hong Kong are equivalent to the strong sales we held a year ago and an improvement on the fall of 2016, continuing the encouraging trend we have experienced so far this year,” said Sotheby's President and CEO Tad Smith, continuing, “Outstanding results in our traditional categories of Chinese ceramics and paintings were joined by records across a range of collecting fields including western contemporary art and jewelry affirming Hong Kong as an anchor of the global art market.”

“Spring is here again,” says Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby’s Asia. “Our robust sales total was driven by an increased number of participants from Mainland China, in addition to buoyant demand from collectors in the rest of Asia and the West. They were drawn to the ten themed sales sourced from the US, Europe, Japan, and here in Hong Kong, as well as record-setting lots such as the ‘CTF Pink Star’ diamond, the Warhol Mao, and the Blue-and-White Ming ‘Fish Pond’ Bowl. Our spring results have proven yet again that Sotheby’s is a truly international auction house where the world’s collectors gather.”

WORLD AUCTION RECORDS
Record for Any Lot Sold in Asia and Any Diamond or Jewel Sold at Auction
Pink Star Diamond, Renamed the ‘CTF Pink Star’
HK$553m / US$71.2m, sold to Hong Kong Jeweller Chow Tai Fook
Record for Early Ming Porcelain
Xuande ‘Fish Pond’ Lobed Bowl HK$229m / US$29.5m
Record for Any Western Contemporary Art Sold in Asia
Andy Warhol’s Mao HK$98.5m / US$12.6m
Record Price Per-Carat for a Fancy Intense Blue Diamond
3.13-Carat Very Fine Fancy Intense Blue Diamond and Diamond Ring HK$37.2m / US$4.8m
Record for Any Lot of Whisky Ever Sold at Auction
The Macallan in Lalique – The Legacy Collection HK$7.7m / US$989,423
13 ARTIST RECORDS
Long Chin-San, Hsia Yan, Hsiao Chin, Wang Yiqian, He Huaishuo,
Le Pho, Joseph Inguimberty, Vicente Silva Manansala,
Shimamoto Shozo, Motonaga Sadamasa, Tanaka Atsuko, Morita Shiryu, José-María Cano
8 ‘WHITE GLOVE’ SALES