New York Sep 17 (IANS) Greater China which is used to refer to mainland China Hong Kong Macau and Taiwan emerged as the leading market for artworks at Christies Asian Art Week sales that realised $34 720 750 (Rs 2.5 billion) with bidders from 37 countries.
"Deep bidding was witnessed from Greater China across all categories and there was active participation from registered bidders… The top lot of the week was a grey limestone figure of Mahasthamaprapta " Christie s one of the leading players in art business said in a statement.
The limestone figure from early Tang dynasty eighth century sold for $3 252 500 more than doubling its low estimate.
The auction house said that high prices were also realised across the thematic collecting sales with "Fine Chinese Jade Carvings from Private Collections" and "The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles".
A masterpiece by Tyeb Mehta (Diagonal XV) sold for $1 392 500.
"The strong sell-through rates and prices-realized this week reinforce the stability of the market and the global demand across all collecting categories of Chinese works of art and Chinese painting. We were pleased to see the top prices realized for masterpieces led by the two Tang dynasty limestone figures.
"We also witnessed extremely active bidding across the thematic sales of jades and Cizhou ware from private collections reinforcing the importance of provenance. Throughout the week of sales there was robust participation across all buying channels with deep bidding witnessed from Greater China " said Tina Zonars Chairman of Asian Art Christie s.

--IANS ss/vm