This season’s Asian Art Week realised US$29,684,314, surpassing its low estimate and bringing the year’s total for the auction series up to US$81,531,228. The sales brought bidders from across the world into our auction room in New York and Online.

The week began with the Japanese and Korean Art sale, where once again, Christie’s showed its dominance in achieving important results for works by the Ukiyo-e master, Katsushika Hokusai. The top lot was an edition of Hokusai’s monumental woodblock print, Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa, which achieved US$856,800, more than 170 per cent of its low estimate.

It was followed by the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art sale, which totaled US$9,385,992, selling 98 per cent by lot and 212 per cent of its low estimate. The top lot of the sale was Jehangir Sabavala’s 1963 painting, The Radiant Spheres, which totalled US$730,800. The sale also counted four artists setting records at auction: Ram Kumar, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ivan Peries and Mohammed Kibria.

To see out the week’s sales, the two-part Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art auction achieved US$11,639,224. Notably, 11 per cent of the bidders in the sale were those who have never participated in a sale in this category. The top lot of the auction — and the week — was an exceptionally rare Xuande blue and white ‘peony’ dish, which realised US$1,562,500. Other notable lots were a pair of imperial three-colour glass stem bowls, which achieved more than nine times its low estimate at US$750,800, and a very rare celadon-glazed, truncated bottle vase that more than tripled its low estimate at US$655,200.