![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Sothebys-Sayed-Haider-Raza-Paysage-Rouge.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tThe top lot for a single-owner sale of Joe Lewis\u2019s L\u00e9onard Tsuguharu Foujita holdings was 1949\u2019s Le r\u00eave (Hommage \u00e0 La Fontaine)<\/em>, which sold for $3.38 million.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Sotheby\u2019s<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tFiring the first shot of the auction season was Sotheby\u2019s on Monday. The evening opened with a single-owner collection sale of billionaire Joe Lewis\u2019s holdings of paintings and works on paper by L\u00e9onard Tsuguharu Foujita. Continuing the momentum of a Sotheby\u2019s London sale from Lewis\u2019s collection earlier this year, the Hong Kong auction realized $8.7 million. Of the 15 works offered, 80 percent sold above their high estimates. The top lot for this portion of the evening was Foujita\u2019s 1949 oil-and-ink painting Le r\u00eave (Hommage \u00e0 La Fontaine)<\/em>, which sold for $3.38 million against an estimate of $510,000\u2013$765,000.<\/p>\n \n\tYet as the evening progressed to the main marquee sale, buyer caution and risk aversion became clear. While the opening lot\u2014Wood \u2013 Rift I<\/em> by Chinese artist Hu Xiaoyuan\u2014surpassed its high estimate by over 160 percent to fetch $212,080 and establish a new auction record for the artist, momentum quickly faltered as the second and third lots both failed to sell. The biggest surprise came when the season\u2019s top lot\u2014Mark Rothko\u2019s 1965 Chapel-series masterpiece Untitled (Plum and Dark Brown)<\/em>\u2014was withdrawn prior to bidding. It had been estimated to sell for between $9.94 million and $16.3 million.<\/p>\n \n\tWithout the Lewis portion, the Sotheby\u2019s evening sale concluded with a total of $87.3 million and an 88.5 percent sell-through rate. Inclusive of the Lewis sale, the house reported a 91 percent sell-through rate and $124.3 million haul, its highest total since fall 2023. The main auction\u2019s top lot ended up being Yoshitomo Nara\u2019s 1994 painting Present<\/em> for $9.13 million; the work made its return to the market after last appearing at auction at Sotheby\u2019s New York in 2004.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tChristie\u2019s Asia Pacific president Rahul Kadakia sells Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s Ancient Scientist<\/em> (1984) for $9.8 million. <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Christie\u2019s<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAt Christie\u2019s on Tuesday night, the underbidding activity was buoyant for many European Old Masters and established contemporary Asian artists, from Peter Paul Rubens to Liu Ye, now in his 60s.<\/p>\n \n\tIn one standout moment during the Old Master offerings, intense bidding escalated for Rubens\u2019s Landscape with Willows (1577-1640)<\/em> between two phone buyers until Rebecca Yang, Christie\u2019s China chairman, brought down the hammer at $1.5 million, or 150 percent above its low estimate, drawing a sharp burst of excitement and applause from the salesroom floor.<\/p>\n \n\tAda Tsui, vice president for Christie\u2019s Asia Pacific, said she was particularly impressed by the bidding on Liu\u2019s work, noting that the lot sparked a head-to-head battle between a Hong Kong\u2013based collector and a Western buyer. \u201cThe underbidding activity was remarkably strong, and the Western collector went all out to fight for that piece.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHowever, performance across other marquee lots was mixed. Yayoi Kusama\u2019s 2011 A-Pumpkin (YHP)<\/em> hammered at $5.99 million\u20142.08 percent below its low estimate\u2014realizing roughly $300,000 less than a comparable painting of the exact same dimensions sold at Sotheby\u2019s the previous evening. Meanwhile, Gerhard Richter\u2019s Abstraktes Bild<\/em> (1991) hammered at $3.568 million, falling 26 percent short of its low estimate; with premium, it sold for $4.47 million.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe took a bit of a risk by bringing this particular Richter work to the evening sale,\u201d Cristian Albu, head of auction and private sales for Christie\u2019s Asia Pacific, told ARTnews<\/em>, noting that while Richter created prolifically across diverse media, this marked the first time Christie\u2019s presented a painting executed in oil on wood in Asia.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tChristie\u2019s Hong Kong sold Gerhard Richter\u2019s Abstraktes Bild<\/em> (1991) for $4.47 million on Tuesday night. <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Christie\u2019s<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhile the auction house was pleased with the result\u2014given that the consignor had acquired the piece in 2006 at Christie\u2019s London for a fraction of its current value\u2014Albu reflected that a dedicated exhibition in Asia showing the full breadth of the artist\u2019s material possibilities might have helped collectors better contextualize the work for collectors in the region.<\/p>\n \n\tRegarding Kusama\u2019s performance, both Tsui and Albu deemed the final result solid despite the below-estimate hammer. \u201cThe artist\u2019s passing was priced in a long time ago because of her age, and we think this is a very respectable price with the buyer\u2019s premium\u2014over $7 million,\u201d Tsui said. \u201cWith sales of very comparable works scheduled back-to-back with our competitor, having multiple clients bidding at that level is encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tUltimately, Tsui observed, performance often comes down to the specific work, its medium, and individual collector taste. She noted that Asian collectors are deeply familiar with Richter\u2019s oeuvre, pointing to the sale of the Marian Goodman collection in New York in April, where buyers from Asia acquired or underbid on more than half of the seven abstract paintings on offer.<\/p>\n \n\tAt the end of the night, Christie\u2019s marquee 20th- and 21st-century evening sale generated $92.6 million, a 28 percent increase year-on-year, though the latest result was supported by 14 additional lots compared to last year\u2019s offerings.<\/p>\n \n\tSynthesizing the broader season, auction house veteran Yuki Terase, cofounder of advisory firm Art Intelligence Global, highlighted the structural challenges currently facing top-tier secondary market offerings. With a global art calendar packed tightly with international fairs, major gallery shows, and private secondary market inventory, buyers returning from the summer break were met with a sudden influx of choices.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe have a vast pool of collectors who can comfortably and intuitively spend up to a few million dollars, but once you cross into eight figures and above, the buyer pool shrinks dramatically,\u201d Terase told ARTnews<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tShe pointed out that top-tier market trophies in Asia this season\u2014such as Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s Ancient Scientist<\/em> (1984), which sold at Christie\u2019s for $9.81 million to become the most expensive work sold at auction in Asia this season\u2014exemplify this dynamic. Though leading the regional market, the hammer price of $7.97 million landed just 11.61 percent above its low estimate. Having previously changed hands in Hong Kong at a joint Phillips and Poly Auction sale in December 2020, the work demonstrates how premier eight-figure lots increasingly rely on unlocking fresh capital and attracting new high-net-worth buyers to the market, rather than simply depending on existing participants to re-engage.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tPhillips auctioneer Henry Highley sells Gerhard Richter\u2019s Abstraktes Bild (522-1)<\/em> for $2.93 million. <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Phillips<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAt Phillips on Wednesday night, the autumn sale marked the house\u2019s first Hong Kong evening auction since the departure of Asia chairman Jonathan Crockett<\/a> earlier this month and an overall staff exodus<\/a> from the house globally. Acting as interim lead, Dina Zhang, head of modern and contemporary art for China, actively dispelled market rumors that Phillips might scale back its regional presence. Instead, Zhang emphasized that the firm is focusing on client retention and acquisition through tailored service and a more flexible consignment strategy, incorporating experimental and edgy works and expanding into category niches that larger competitors may overlook.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think we remain very competitive in certain categories and within specific price ranges,\u201d Zhang told ARTnews<\/em>. \u201cWhenever we are competing for a major consignment against other houses, I always ask clients to give us a fair shot. Even if we lose the bid, I ask them for transparent feedback so we know the real reason.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAcross a lean catalog of 16 lots, Phillips\u2019 Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale generated over $6.4 million, concluding with a sell-through rate of 87.5 precent. The sale\u2019s top lot was another Richter, 1983\u2019s Abstraktes Bild (522-1)<\/em>, which sold for $2.93 million, or about $1.54 million less than the Sotheby\u2019s Richter, painted eight years later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday. The Hong Kong art market\u2019s recovery remains uneven, with a mixed macroeconomic backdrop in Asia weighing on collector budgets, as evidenced by this week\u2019s round of auctions in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7070459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[43571,20765,7560,3471,231422,3472,8115,1329,34993,457,9473],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7070458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-christies","tag-combined","tag-evening","tag-hong","tag-hong-kong-sales","tag-kong","tag-phillips","tag-sales","tag-sothebys","tag-strong","tag-total"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Top-lot-of-The-Foujita-Lexicon.jpg?w=400\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Saleroom-Evening-Sale.jpg?w=400\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/richter.jpg?w=400\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Auctioneer-Henry-Highley-selling-Gerhard-Richter-Abstraktes-Bild-522-1.jpg?w=400\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>
\n\tEditor\u2019s Note:<\/strong> This story originally appeared in On Balance<\/a>, <\/em>the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here<\/a><\/em> to receive it every Wednesday.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe Hong Kong art market\u2019s recovery remains uneven, with a mixed macroeconomic backdrop in Asia weighing on collector budgets, as evidenced by this week\u2019s round of auctions in the special administrative region.<\/p>\n \n\tMainland Chinese equities dropped to a 13-month low this month, while the Japanese yen dipped to a multi-decade low in June. In contrast, South Korea\u2019s economy gained traction on the back of strong semiconductor exports, while capital from the Middle East has continued to flow into financial centers like Hong Kong and Singapore amid prolonged geopolitical friction.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n\n