Asia Week New York 2012 sales ends nine-day run exceeding $170 million in sales
Asia Week New York concluded its nine-day run on March 24 and was met with great enthusiasm from the multitude of international collectors, curators, scholars and Asian art aficionados who descended upon New York to see an extraordinary array of treasures from every corner of Asia. The thirty-three Asian art specialists from England, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, and the United States reported strong sales to known and new buyers, from here and abroad, with many works on reserve by museums. To date, the combined sales realized by these galleries together with the highly successful auctions-many with record-breaking prices-at Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle New York, iGavel and Sotheby’s, total over 170 million US dollars.
“Asia Week New York 2012 wrapped up its robust season over the weekend after an extraordinary week of openings, events, gallery exhibitions, lectures and auctions,” said Henry Howard-Sneyd, Chairman of Asia Week New York 2012 and Sotheby’s Vice chairman of Asian art, Americas. “Almost every significant art form and country in Asia was represented, often in depth, across the city. The dealer participants reported consistent visitor traffic throughout, with many saying that they had sold better than last year. The auctions reported record high prices in many categories with New York maintaining its ranking among the top-selling centers of the world. ” According to Howard-Sneyd, classical Chinese paintings have returned as a leading element of the Asian art market after more than 10 years’ absence.
“Kapoor Galleries is thrilled at and thankful for the support of our distinguished clientele, one of whom flew in his personal jet to view the exhibition, prior to its official opening,” said Suneet Kapoor. “We have had tremendous interest and kind praise from collectors, curators and colleagues for the high quality works on display.” According to Kapoor, the highly important earliest known signed and dated Nepalese paubha of a Vasudhara Mandala sold for over two million dollars.
Additional sales at Kapoor Galleries included: Krishna & Arjuna Hunting, attributed to Manaku, from the mid 18th century sold to a European private collector; a Basohli painting depicting Krishna quelling the naga Kaliya, attributed to Fattu, circa 1765; along with a magnificent sculpture of Vishnu, circa 10th-11th century sold to an American private collector; a lovely leaf from the Sundar Shringar series of paintings, depicting Radha in conversation with her mother in law, as well as Prince Climbing a Rope a marvelous Mughal painting from the 18th century sold to a distinguished New York collector.
