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China retains top ranking in global art sales

Shanghai Daily, February 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Global art sales set a fresh record in 2014 driven by acquisitions from new museums, while China maintained its place at the top of the market, data firm Artprice said yesterday.

Works worth US$15.2 billion were sold at auction during the year, an increase of 26 percent from 2013, Artprice said in its annual report, produced with China's Artron.

A record number of 1,679 sales worth US$1 million or more were recorded over last year, four times more than a decade ago, it added.

Thierry Ehrmann, founder and CEO of Artprice, described the figures as "an amazing result, an increase of 300 percent in a decade.".

He added that the boom was not being driven by speculators, with 37 percent of lots going unsold in the West and 54 percent in China.

Last year also saw 125 artworks sell for US$10 million or more, not including commission, against 18 in 2005.

China, grouping the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, kept its market leader status, taking up US$5.6 billion in sales, closely followed by the United States.

However, in a sign that a slowdown in China's economy and an anti-corruption drive that has curtailed luxury spending may have taken their toll, sales in the country fell 5 percent compared with 2013.

Last year was an exceptionally strong year in the US, with US$4.8 billion being spent at US auctions, up 21 percent from the previous year.

British auction houses also performed solidly to secure third place with US$2.8 billion in sales, up 35 percent from 2013.

"Demand is constant and aggressive on every continent ... notably from museums," said Ehrmann.

"More museums were created between 2000 and 2015 than during the entire 19th and 20th centuries," added Wang Jie, president of Artprice.com and Artron group.

The phenomenal expansion saw a new museum opening every day somewhere in the world, led by growth in Asia, he said.

"A museum needs a minimum of 3,000 to 4,000 quality works to be credible ... (and) is not meant to get rid of its acquisitions," he added.

And even though top valued lots represented only a small proportion of the total market, they were key to the US and Britain maintaining their top positions.

Eighty-three of the 125 sales worth US$10 million or more were conducted in the US.