Fine Art Asia

The management of Masterpiece has unveiled the dealers who will participate in a showcase that replaces the planned 24 stands at Fine Art Asia (October 4-7) in Hong Kong because of continuing public unrest in the city.

The organisers of Fine Art Asia and Masterpiece have confirmed the event, featuring Masterpiece's debut presence in the Far East, will proceed in Hong Kong in October, despite the city's anti-government protests in recent weeks.

The Masterpiece fair brand will be trialled in Hong Kong later this year with a ‘pavilion’ within the Fine Art Asia fair.

Fine Art Asia, the annual Hong Kong event, features art and antiques offered by dealers from both the west and the east.

Fine Art Asia, the international fine art and antiques fair in Hong Kong, will open its doors with an invitation-only preview on October 1.

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.

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.

‘Masterpiece London’ has announced a link with Hong Kong’s ‘Fine Art Asia’ this year, with the incorporation of a Hong Kong Pavilion at the fourth edition of the London fair from June 26-July 3.

In his monthly columns for ATG, Fine Art Asia fair director and dealer Andy Hei takes a look at the international market from a Far Eastern perspective, sheds light on how to do business with the Chinese in Hong Kong and explains why Hong Kong is a better first stop than mainland China.

There were two surprising results at the Lempertz Asian Art sale in Cologne on November 22-23. This large, anonymous Japanese 17th/18th century Indian ink and watercolour, Daimyô in Kamishimo with tachibana weapons and two swords on a tatami mat, paper 4ft x 2ft 10in (1.22m x 86cm), right, soared 100 times estimate to make €80,000 (£51,300).

As fresh, quality private consignments become ever scarcer, the competition for such works must make it difficult for auctioneers nationwide to put sales together. Although Bonhams’ (15/10 buyer’s premium) 400-lot Fine Asian Art sale on November 12 had fewer top quality works to tempt buyers than at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the modestly estimated and fresh-to-the-market tea dust-glazed moonflask, Qianlong seal mark and period, saw buyers jostling for ownership.