BEIJING AUCTION HOUSE HAS RECORD YEAR

The Beijing-based auction house China Guardian has published the company’s sales results for 2009, a record-shattering year of growth as China continues to enjoy its increasing wealth, reports David Spalding for Artinfo. With twenty-two thousand sales in six categories––Chinese painting and calligraphy, porcelain and works of art, Chinese oil painting, sculpture and photography, jewelry, and ancient rare books, stamps, coins, and bronze mirrors––the salesroom posted a total turnover of $397.21 million, the highest annual tally since the company’s establishment sixteen years ago, and a 50 percent increase over its 2008 figures. In the Chinese-painting-and-calligraphy category alone, China Guardian reported selling eighty-eight hundred pieces totaling $284.28 million, the highest for this category worldwide. These results make China Guardian last year’s highest-grossing Asian auction house.

“In 2009, each of our auctions was carefully prepared over a long period of time to present to the collectors a lot of precious cultural relics and works of art from home and abroad,” said Wang Yannan, director and president of China Guardian. “As a result, we have achieved record-high revenue, which we believe is a win-win result, and also a return for our long-term commitment to the principles of fair play and integrity. In the future, we will continue making efforts to improve lot quality and our service standard and to provide for collectors higher-level works of art.”

“This year’s auction results have further consolidated Beijing’s status as the world’s number-four art-auction center,” Wang added. “Looking to the future, as long as the economy gets warmer, the art-auction market should be able to maintain a sustained growth momentum.”