At Home and Abroad, the Market for Chinese Art and Antiquities Sharply Declined in 2018, Our Exclusive Auction Report Reveals

by admin

Sep 24, 2019

artnet

The seventh annual edition of the Global Chinese Art Auction
Market report, a partnership between artnet and the China
Association of Auctioneers (CAA), shows that global auction sales
of Chinese art and antiques in 2018 totaled $6.4 billion—a 10
percent drop compared with 2017 totals.

The annual report provides a rare, in-depth look at the market
by analyzing its overall volume and size, sector trends, and key
players in auctions of Chinese art and antiques around the
world. Over the past seven years, data from mainland China
provided by the CAA has also been integrated into the artnet Price
Database, making vetted auction results from mainland China readily
available to the rest of the world.

Among the major findings of the 2018 report is the fact that,
amid economic uncertainty and the ongoing trade battle between the
US and China, the total value of auction sales in mainland China of
Chinese art and antiquities has declined by 17 percent to $4.2
billion—its lowest level since 2010. North America also saw a 36
percent decline in the total sales value of Chinese art and
antiques, year-on-year.

the total value of auction sales in mainland China has declined by 17 percent to $4.2 billion—its lowest level since 2010

The total value of auction sales in
mainland China has declined by 17 percent to $4.2 billion—its
lowest level since 2010. Chart courtesy of artnet and CAA.

At its peak level in 2011, total auction sales of Chinese art
and antiques accounted for 50 percent of the global art auction
market. But because of a slowdown in the rate of the Chinese
economy’s growth, this market share dropped to 31 percent in
2018.

Meanwhile, whereas the European auction market for Chinese
art had been on a general downward trend since 2011, this changed
significantly in 2018. Overall sales remained stable, as the number
of lots offered increased by 30 percent, year-over-year. This
resulted in a 72 percent increase from 2017 in the number of lots
sold. Overall, the total sales value in Europe grew by 28
percent.

Overall sales in Europe remained stable as the number of lots offered for Chinese art and antiques increased by 30 percent year-over-year. Courtesy of artnet and CAA.

Overall sales in Europe remained stable
as the number of lots offered for Chinese art and antiques
increased by 30 percent year-over-year. Chart courtesy of artnet
and CAA.

The total number of lots sold in Asia, outside of mainland
China, rose by 29 percent, while the sell-through rate for the
region also hit 63 percent, its highest level since 2014. Total
sales value increased by 12 percent after two consecutive years of
contraction in 2016 and 2017.

The total sales value of Chinese art and
antiquities increased by 12 percent in Asia. Chart courtesy of
artnet and CAA.

The average price for objects, however, decreased by 17 percent
between 2017 and 2018, despite the increase in the number of total
lots sold across all regions. In both mainland China and overseas
markets, the percentage of lots sold at the market’s lower end
(¥500,000, or $75,000, and under) reached its highest level since
2012. At the same time, total lots sold at the high end of the
market (¥10 million, or $1.5 million, and above) experienced a
significant drop.

The report also breaks out sales in mainland China by genre,
including Fine Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy, Contemporary and
20th-century art, and classical paintings and calligraphy.

According to the analysis, Fine Chinese Paintings and
Calligraphy—the largest collecting category in mainland
China—experienced a major decline in 2018, with total sales
tumbling 35 percent from 2017. The prices of objects in the
category declined by an average of 40 percent, “likely due to
the contraction in the number of high-quality works offered”
according to the report.

Sell through rates and average sale prices fell to six-year
lows. The picture was even more bleak for the contemporary
Chinese art, with a decline of nearly 50 percent.

The market for Fine Chinese Paintings
and Calligraphy in mainland China experienced a major decline.
Chart courtesy of artnet and CAA.

By contrast, outside the region, the collecting category of
20th-century and Contemporary Chinese art had an outstanding
year.

In 2018, the total sales value in the overseas market saw a 50
percent increase to reach the highest total sales value since 2011.
The sell-through rate overseas increased for the third consecutive
year, to 69 percent, indicating a particularly strong demand for
this sector.

See the full report
here.

The post At Home and Abroad, the Market for Chinese Art and
Antiquities Sharply Declined in 2018, Our Exclusive Auction Report
Reveals appeared first on artnet News.