Chinese auction houses dominate top 10 list of global auction houses for contemporary art – Artprice
Posted by artradar on February 1, 2009
AUCTION HOUSE REVENUE
According to Artprice, in the global ranking (in terms of revenue) of the 10 biggest auction houses for contemporary art over the last 12 months, 6 are Chinese.
Euro
1. Sotheby’s 14.5m
2. Christie’s 14.4m
3. Phillips de Pury 8.7m
4. Poly International 7.1
5. China Guardian 6.8m
6. Borododur Chinese 5.7m
7. Ravanel 5.7m
8. Zhong Cheng 5.5m
9. Shanghai Hosane 5.2m
10. Beijing Council 4.7m
Top 10 auction houses by contemporary art sales July 1 2007 to 30 June 2008 compiled by Artprice, the French auction price database company.
According to Artprice
The irruption in 2003-2004 of a new generation of Chinese collectors on the international scene initially triggered a sharp inflation of prices in the Anglo-American auction rooms before spreading in very amplified waves to Chinese auctions over the last two years. Today the growth of the contemporary Chinese art market, is self-sustaining and appears to have emancipated itself from the hegemony of the two “Anglo-Saxon” houses (Sotheby’s and Christie’s).
Artprice, the French auction price database company has produced a report Contemporary Art Market 2007/2008 in which Alain Quemin, Professor of Art Sociology at Paris University analyses 51 Art Fairs selected by Artprice and their 4658 gallery participations to produce this list.
Artprice report Contemporary Art Market 2007/2008 This 99 page report is free to download and contains information about auction, fair and geographical trends and artist prices for the year to June 30 2008.
Art Radar Asia 
chinaluxculturebiz said
This continues to reflect the growing importance of mainland Chinese art collectors, and the interesting particularities of the rising middle and upper-middle class in China. This definitely isn’t lost on the big western auction houses either. Sotheby’s is really pushing its Hong Kong auctions, since so many mainland Chinese can easily make the trip down there to take part in these auctions, and I think we’ll continue to see an Eastward shift in strategy among all of the big auction houses. As Poly and Guardian gain more strength, western auction houses are eventually going to have to work hard to compete even in Hong Kong.