Asia

The centrepiece of Sotheby’s April auction series in Hong Kong will be the collection of around 100 lots of Chinese porcelain spanning the Tang to Qing dynasties that was formed by the British collector Roger Pilkington.

Hong Kong is to tighten its rules on ivory.

Sotheby’s will open an office in Mumbai, as they bid to expand their Indian businesses with two ‘strategic’ appointments in the region.

Guillaume Cerutti, chief executive of Sotheby’s France and European deputy chairman, is to leave and join Christie’s as president for London, Continental Europe, the Middle East, Russia and India.

A group of 32 ancient gold ornaments have been returned to China following claims they had been illegally removed.

Berlin online auction house Auctionata set a house record when this Chinese enamel, ivory-mounted and paste-set musical and automaton clock was sold for €2.8m (£2.15m), or €3.37m including premium.

Attracting collectors and experts from around the world, the third edition of ‘Asia Week Hong Kong’ will take place from May 27 to June 11.

As Frieze week in London has shown, once one art fair in a given city – London, New York, Paris – gains critical mass, others spring up around it.

Among the most important Asian works of art to come to market in the modern collecting era, an Imperial Ming dynasty embroidered silk thangka sold for HK$310m (£27m) at a Christie’s latest Chinese art series in Hong Kong.

Bonhams will their launch their sales of Modern and Contemporary Art from Asia in Hong Kong on March 15 during the ‘Art Basel Hong Kong’ week.

Visitors admire a stand at the 10th edition of Fine Art Asia in Hong Kong, staged from October 4-7 in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, against a backdrop of the pro-democracy protests in the city.

Christie’s have opened their new exhibition space and office in Shanghai at the Ampire Building, near the Bund.

Sotheby's have made their first foray into the wine retail market by opening their first wine store in Hong Kong.

Spink have unveiled their new Hong Kong operation, dubbed Spink China, with the first sale, focused on wines and spirits, set for August 20.

Bonhams have pledged to use their new Hong Kong headquarters to expand the territory’s traditional sales programme throughout the year.

A new auction high for Chinese porcelain was set last week when Sotheby’s sold a tiny Chenghua period ‘chicken cup’ for a hammer price of HK$250m (£21.5m) as part of their latest Hong Kong sale series.

Hong Kong’s Fine Art Asia fair organisers have announced that they will launch ‘Guardian Fine Art Asia’ (GFAA), the Beijing edition of the event, in May this year.

The importance of China as a source of new clients in the international art market has been highlighted in a business intelligence report made available to ATG by Sotheby’s.

Since the idea was first announced in March, news had gone quiet on a possible ‘TEFAF Beijing’, a collaboration between ‘TEFAF Maastricht’ and Sotheby’s Joint Venture in Beijing with GeHua.

From November 28 to December 1 Sotheby’s will hold the series of private and public sales they have dubbed ‘Beijing Art Week’. It is the largest event Sotheby’s have held in China.