Thompson & Martinez Fine Art Appraisals, Inc.

The Economist Magazine has recently published two interesting articles on the Asian art market based on recent sales in Hong Kong and Paris. The first point is that while the overall Asian Art market reflects the general weakness of the global art market, the Chinese art market is an exception. Sales remain strong due to the ever-growing demand and sophistication of private Mainland Chinese buyers. However, the markets for Japanese and Korean works of art continue to be dominated by Western collectors. This small and highly specialised group tend to buy through dealers rather than at auction.  At a recent sale of Japanese art at Christie’s in Paris nearly 60% of the 125 lots failed to sell. The bought-in rate of Korean works was even worse, at well over 70%. In stark contrast, Chinese art at Paris sales had a bought in rate of only 20-30%  at Sotheby’s and Christie’s with approximately 70% selling above the pre-auction high estimate! (more…)

On January 14th, 2009 a Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and China was issued restricting the importation of Chinese antiquities, wall art and sculpture. The purpose of this measure is to curb the looting of artifacts from archaeological sites in China which has been rampant for decades.  The MOU states that all antiquities dating from the Paleolithic Period (75,000 B.C.E.) through the end of the Tang Dynasty (907 C.E.) and wall art and sculpture 250 years and older can only be imported into the United States with a valid export certificate or with documentation showing that it had left China prior to January 14th, 2009 (for a detailed list of restricted antiquities visit: http://www.culturalheritage.state.gov/ch2009DLFRN.pdf). (more…)

My first trip to China was in the summer of 1980 when I was a sophmore in college. Fresh out of my eight-week intensive Chinese language course at Middlebury College,  I went  to China eager to a learn about a land that was about as foreign to a westerner as existed on planet earth.  Flying into the Beijing Airport at night, an area that was home to some five million people, there were few lights to be seen. On the drive from the airport to Beijing you could just make out in the darkness, horse-drawn carts, bicyclers and pedestrians. Taxis, cars and buses were few and far between.  It was July and very hot and as we entered the city, we saw people lying on make-shift beds on the sidewalks to escape the oppressive heat of their apartments.  No-one but the most senior member of the CCP had access to fans much less air conditioners.   Although Deng Xiaoping, who had wrested power  from the  murderous “Gang of Four”  after Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, had recently declared that “to get rich is glorious”,  access to goods was still extremely limited for both ideological and economic reasons. China had just emerged from thirty years of political tumult and  policy-induced famine and deprivations which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people.  Conformity to the ever-shifting party line was paramount and people lived in fear of persecution should they be accused of being a “capitalist-roader”.

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Emerging art markets, like emerging stock markets, made astronomical gains in the past 4-5 years. And Chinese contemporary art, in particular, was among the most overheated markets. Between January 2004 and January 2009 the price index of Chinese contemporary art rose 583% (artprice, Art Market Insight [Feb 2009],  reaching its high-water mark in Spring of 2008 when Christie’s auction in Hong Kong realised sales of US$310.7 million. In recent years, Chinese artists have made up one third of the top 100 contemporary artists ranked by auction revenue, and Chinese contemporary art has been a quarter of the global market. Cai Guo-Qiang, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang and Zeng Fanzhi are among the top artists contributing to this extraordinary price acceleration. Their works regularly broke records for the most paid for a Chinese living artist.  At the Sotheby’s Hong Kong sale of the Estella Collection on April 9th, 2008, Zhang Xiaogang’s painting Bloodline: The Big Family No. 3 fetched US$6.1 million (HK$47.4 million) including fees,  a record for the artist.  This price was eclipsed shortly thereafter at Christie’s Hong Kong May 24th auction when Zeng Fanzhi’s painting, Mask Series (1996) no. 6,  was sold for US$9,673,165 million (including fees). (more…)

At Thompson & Martinez Fine Art Appraisals, Inc. our appraisals conform to the latest requirements of the IRS, the Appraisal Foundation’s Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and the American Society of Appraisers. These standards provide our clients with the highest degree of reliability and accuracy in valuation, and provide a sound basis for the management of fine art assets. In preparing charitable donation appraisals, the IRS requires appraisers to obtain specific information from both the donor and the donee. The following is based on our understanding of current published IRS requirements. Please consult a tax specialist in the case of any questions particular to your situation. (more…)

The Empress’ New Clothes: A Daoist Ordination Scroll in the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) and Female Authority in the Ming Period

(Paper presented at the Association of Asian Studies National Conference, Washington, D.C, April, 2002)
by Lydia Thompson, Ph.D.

Some images currently not available

Introduction

Figure 1, “The Ordination of Empress Zhang”, Court Painter[s], Ink, color and gold on paper, section from a handscroll, 1493, Courtesy of the San Diego Museum of Art (gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Jeffers)

In 1493 the monumental hand-scroll commemorating Ming Empress Zhang’s ordination as a Daoist priest was completed. Unrolling to ninety-two feet long, the scale of this hand-scroll is comparable to another famous imperial hand-scroll commemorating Zhang’s nephew and political nemesis the Jiajing Emperor’s (r. 1522-66) procession to the Ming Tombs (c. 1550). The ordination scroll, now in the collection of the San Diego Museum of Art, features a portrait of the Empress in the company of fifty-two deities and adepts floating amongst the clouds (Figure 1, first large-scale figure at left). In the center of the hand-scroll is a long inscription by Empress Zhang’s teacher, Zhang Xuanqing (d. 1509), 47th patriarch of the Zhengyi sect, who is also represented in the scroll wearing a red robe to the right of the Empress. The inscription details the scriptures, registers (lists of gods) and talismans giving her access to deities and cosmic forces. (more…)