Tag: Collectors and Collections

A Queer Chinese Artist Finds Liberation Through Folk Art

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In the years he hid his sexuality from his children and village neighbors, Xiyadie would take short-bladed scissors to rice paper and give shape to unfulfilled dreams. At first glance, his creations conform to traditional cutout designs of animals and auspicious symbols adorning doorways and windows in China. But a closer look at the shapes — birds, butterflies and blossoms perched on twisty vines — reveals bodies conjoined in the throes of intimacy or separated by brick walls. The artist, 60, who goes by the pseudonym Xiyadie, was born in…

Watches in Pairs Are Popular Among Couples in Asia

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Watch brands and collectors are both enjoying a bit of matchy-matchy action right now as his-and-her looks in timepieces are turning up everywhere. Piaget plans to celebrate the coming Chinese New Year with a special collection of eight high jewelry and métiers d’art watches — four masculine and four feminine — scheduled to be released in December, with prices on request. The designs nod to the dragon and the phoenix, traditional Chinese symbols for male and female. (And, 2024 also happens to be the Year of the Dragon.) In October,…

Art Auction in Hong Kong Draws Lower Bids Than Expected

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The largest auction ever held by Sotheby’s in Asia of a single owner’s art collection raised less money than expected on Thursday, a sign that rising global interest rates may be starting to weigh on the market for fine art. A portrait by Amedeo Modigliani sold for considerably less than predicted, and 10 other artworks failed to sell when bidding fell short of reserve prices. The auction, which was held in Hong Kong and streamed online for bidders around the world, produced total sales of $69.5 million including commissions, Sotheby’s…

Liu Yiqian, China’s Top Art Collector, Is Selling a Modigliani

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Few Chinese art collectors have made a bigger splash at global auctions in the past decade than Liu Yiqian, a former Shanghai taxi driver who amassed a fortune through big bets on Chinese real estate and pharmaceutical stocks. He was a profligate purchaser of Chinese antiquities and other artworks. In 2014, Mr. Liu paid a record $36.3 million for an ancient Chinese porcelain cup, and $45 million for a 600-year-old silk wall hanging. He paid $170.4 million for Amedeo Modigliani’s risqué “Nu Couché” painting a year later. One Shanghai museum…