Asia

Sotheby’s has promoted Nicolas Chow to chairman of Sotheby’s Asia. He has risen through the ranks of the company as the Chinese art market has grown rapidly since he joined Sotheby’s in 1999.

Coins, banknotes and stamps specialist Spink has expanded its sales programme into the growing auction sector of luxury handbags.

A rare Kangxi bowl coming onto the market for the first time in 30 years could test the auction record for Chinese ceramics.

Today marks Chinese New Year, heralding the year of the dog. Those born in the year of the dog are said to be loyal, honest, just and popular in social circles.

Hong Kong’s bill for a stricter ban on ivory will be enacted this year but exemptions for antiques objects remain.

China Guardian is to open a new flagship building in Beijing this spring with auction and museum space.

Sotheby’s posted a record price for any piece of Chinese ceramics sold at auction after a rare Ru guanyao brush washer drew a 20 minute bidding battle in Hong Kong.

Objects and artworks from the personal collection of Claude Monet (1840-1926) will be on view in London later this month ahead of an auction in Hong Kong in November.

Failure by buyers to pay for works of art they have successfully won at auction in China remains a major problem for the industry, according to the latest report.

Hong Kong’s bill to ban the domestic ivory trade does allow for the trade in antiques containing ivory, it has emerged.

Phillips has hired Christie’s Lilly Chan to become managing director of its Asia business.

An exceptional Xuande mark and period ‘fish pond’ bowl, trumpeted by Sotheby’s as among the greatest examples of early Ming blue and white porcelain in private hands, sold in Hong Kong for HK$229m (£22.9m) on April 4.

China is shutting a third of its ivory factories and shops, as it begins to meet the requirements of a formal ban by the end of the year.

Asian art dealers Roger and Miranda Keverne donated a Chinese export painting, depicting pirates on the China coast, to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.