Christie’s closes $26M in Chinese art as a Huanghuali daybed sells for 26 times its estimate

The two Christie’s sales that ran back-to-back during Asia Week New York arrived organized around a proposition: that the most revealing objects in the Chinese tradition are those whose biography is inseparable from their form. The first sale, “Ritual, Cosmos, and Imperial Splendor,” arranged its lots by theme rather than chronology — placing ritual bronzes beside cosmological lacquer beside imperial furniture — so the room moved through the tradition’s concerns rather than its timeline. The curatorial wager was that collectors would follow the objects rather than the estimate sheet, and the results suggest they did.

Together, the two auctions totaled $25,966,160, more than twice the combined low estimate. “Ritual, Cosmos, and Imperial Splendor: Important Chinese Art from a Private North American Collection” achieved $8,695,680 at 94% sold by lot, while “Important Chinese Art Including Ceramics from the Art Institute of Chicago” reached $17,270,480 at 82% sold, realizing 2.5 times its low estimate.

The single most forceful argument came from a 17th-century Waistless Huanghuali Daybed, which achieved $3,170,000 — 26 times its low estimate. Huanghuali, the fragrant rosewood favored by Ming-dynasty cabinetmakers for its fine grain and luminous tones, ages without disguising itself; the daybed’s waistless construction is among the most pared-down propositions in Chinese furniture design, a form that has survived four centuries without revision. That bidders drove this particular example to 26 times its low estimate suggests something about what the room understood the object to be saying.

Christies auction house entrance in Manhattan — Christies saleroom entrance, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York. Photo: Leonard J. DeFrancisci / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The second-highest result came from a different register: a Famille Rose “Bats and Peaches” Bowl from the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection, which reached $2,048,000 — five times its estimate. The Art Institute is offering these works to develop and care for its Asian Art holdings, a provenance that gave each lot a legible institutional history. “The strongest results were driven by works that combined superb quality with exceptional provenance,” said Vicki Paloympis, who heads Christie’s Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Department in New York. The formula held across categories and across both sales.

A 15th-century gilt-bronze Vajrapani — the Buddhist guardian deity cast during the Xuande reign — realized $704,000, more than double its low estimate, as the third-highest lot overall. Elsewhere in “Ritual, Cosmos, and Imperial Splendor,” a rare set of ten kesi panels depicting immortals at the Banquet of Xiwangmu reached $512,000, and a Yongzheng-period Famille Rose Lotus Dish achieved $614,400 — each tracing a distinct strand of Chinese material and devotional culture across centuries.

Christie’s remaining Asia Week New York offerings include Japanese Art Online through September 23 and Arts of Asia Online through September 24, the latter featuring over 100 additional lots from the Art Institute of Chicago, all offered without reserve.

Tags: Christie's, art auctions, Art Institute of Chicago, Asia Week New York, Vicki Paloympis, Chinese ceramics