China's red-hot art market cools amid financial turmoil

October 09, 2008

Sotheby's Chinese art sales in Hong Kong weaken, as collectors stay on the sidelines The global financial crisis doused the Chinese art market boom, with Sotheby's saying it sold HK1.1 billion dollars (141.6 million US dollars) worth of Asian art in its biannual sales in Hong Kong, around half the expected total. Sotheby's pre-sale estimate for the five-day auction series had been over HK 2 billion dollars, but numerous categories of artwork including jewellery, Chinese imperial ceramics, Chinese contemporary and 20th century paintings, were riven with unsold lots as global buyers and collectors sat on the sidelines.