Lempertz achieved over 2 million euro with a very successful Asian Art auction

This year's Asian Art auction took place on 8 and 9 December at Lempertz in Cologne. The 820-lot offering reached a total result of over 2 million euro, which together with the top result in the spring, gave one of Lempertz' most successful year's for Asian art. Numerous bids came from overseas, reflecting again the upward trend in Chinese collectors. Chinese websites such as Lempertz Weixin (Wechat) have been especially launched for Lempertz and received great interest. The increase in the number of online bidders was also clearly seen this season. 

The Emilfranz Maurer (and Schmidtmann) collection was nearly completely sold out, including a fire gilt Buddha Shakyamuni from the Ming dynasty which doubled its estimate of € 30,000 – 40,000 up to € 86,800 (lot 229). The whole collection of Johann and Ursula Strebel was also in great demand with many pieces sold for many times above their estimate, such as lot 8, a Tibetan Buddha Shakyamuni with vajra from the 15th century which rose from € 5,000 – 8,000 up to € 49,600. A Thai Avalokiteshvara from the early 8thcentury, over 50 cm tall, achieved a notable € 74,400 (lot 633, € 20,000 – 30,000), whilst lot 27 from the Strebel Collection, a necklace of 46 pearls of amber and other resinssurprised with a result of € 38,400, up from € 4 – 6,000.

Furthermore, the Chinese decorative arts were highly contested: a Qing dynasty bronze incense burner attracted many bidders raising the price from € 300 to 60-times the estimate up to € 24,800 (lot 110). A circa 13 cm tall rhinoceros horn cup from the 17th/18th century made € 74,400 (lot 183, estimate € 50,000 – 70.000), and a long hardwood table (early 20th century) which was estimated at € 800 – 1200 reached € 12,400 (lot 215).

Offered in a separate catalogue, the Indian Miniature Bronzes from the Collection of Günter Heil (Part 1) was very popular and was also almost completely sold out. Of particular interest was lot 503, an eight-armed Vasudeva-Kamalaja on Garuda from Kashmir, 12th century, which started at € 3 – 4,000, but was eventually sold after competition between numerous bidders for € 24,800. A further highlight of the Günter Heil Collection was an 11 cm copper alloy Jambhala from the 12th/13th century with an estimate of € 2,500 – 3,500, which changed hands for a remarkable € 29,800 (lot 36).