Growing wealth fuels art auction boom in SE Asia

Growing wealth fuels art auction boom in SE Asia

By Roberto Coloma

SINGAPORE (AFP): When British auction house Christie's put a
classic painting by 19th-century Indonesian master Raden Saleh up
for sale here, it estimated the work to be worth perhaps
US$850,000.

By the time the fierce bidding last March ended, an anonymous
regional collector made history by taking The Deer Hunt for $2.2
million -- the highest ever paid for a Southeast Asian painting
at an auction.

The art auction business is booming in Southeast Asia, where
paintings, antiques and other collectibles are fetching record
prices as the region's rich buy back their cultural heritage from
the international market.

"What we sell in Singapore is only limited by what we can
get," Philip Ng, managing director of Christie's Asia, told AFP.
"The demand, we believe, is a lot bigger."

Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia constitute a golden triangle
for the auction business in Southeast Asia, with Thailand not far
behind.

"Singapore is the more established market. The areas with the
fastest growth potential could be Indonesia and Malaysia.
Thailand is also very good, especially for jewelry," said Renee
Kok, press and marketing manager for Sotheby's Asia.

"The reason of course is that the economy in Southeast Asia
fuels art collecting. If a country is getting richer, it pushes
up the value of its art. They obviously want to buy back their
own art," she added.

Demand is also strong for items like fine wines, watches and
jewelry.

Last month, Christie's broke new ground when it held Southeast
Asia's first auction of fine and rare wines in Singapore,
grossing more than $475,000 from connoisseurs.

Christie's sold $3.3 million's worth of Southeast Asian
paintings during the autumn sale.

Rival Sotheby's held its first auction in Singapore in
October, grossing $2.7 million from Southeast Asian paintings.

Indonesian paintings are the hottest items these days, and
Indonesian private collectors are among the most aggressive
bidders in the region, a phenomenon attributed by experts to the
culturally rich archipelago's economic boom.

Moreover, Southeast Asian bidders have become a major presence
not only in Singapore, the heart of the region's auction
business, but in more established international markets as well.

Last week, an unnamed Southeast Asian collector bought a
1,000-year-old white marble statue from the Northern Song dynasty
for $162,000 at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong.

Another bought a Qing dynasty white jade incense burner set
for $130,000.

Sotheby's Kok said that jewelry lots sold at auctions in Hong
Kong, Geneva and New York, which used to be snapped up by oil-
rich Middle Eastern buyers, are now increasingly purchased by
Southeast Asians.

"Five or 10 years ago, the percentage of Southeast Asian
purchases in Hong Kong would be around 10 to 20 percent. Now it's
definitely more than one-third," Kok said.

A Chinese-Malaysian collector surprised the industry in 1994
when he bought an 18th-century Imperial long table for $354,500,
the highest price paid for a piece of Chinese furniture at an
auction.

Irene Lee, general manager of Christie's in Singapore, said
that apart from affluence stoking a desire for the finer things,
regional business links have generated an appreciation of
Southeast Asian art.

"People are well-traveled around the region. They are not only
buying back their national heritage, they are also buying back
the regional heritage," she said.