Meiyintang collection

The Meiyintang collection is a large, privately owned collection of Chinese porcelain. The Meiyintang was widely hailed as one of the last great collections of Chinese porcelain by European owners, as it is owned by a prominent Swiss family.^[1]

History

The Meiyintang pieces were collected by the Swiss Zuellig brothers beginning in the early 1950s.^[2] There are over 2,000 pieces in the collection. The collection is currently controlled by Stephen Zuellig, a Swiss businessman and the heirs of his late brother, Gilbert Zuellig.^[3] Pieces from the collection have been exhibited publicly only twice in the past; in 1944 at the British Museum and in 1946 in Monte Carlo.^[2]

Sotheby's Hong Kong auction

77 pieces of the porcelain items from the collection was auctioned at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on April 7, 2011 as part of Sotheby's Hong Kong's 8 days auction event.^[2][4] One of the pieces, an 18th century Falangcai vase depicting golden pheasants, was expected to sell for $23 million USD. The entire sale, consisting of nearly 80 pieces, was given an estimation by Sotheby's to bring in between HK$710 million and HK$1.07 billion ($91–137 million USD).^[5] However at the auction, the collection received less than enthusiastic response from bidders, and fetched only HK$399 million ($51 million USD) with many of the items remaining unsold.^[6] This came as a surprise to many in the auction world, given by the string of auction records broken in recent Sotheby's Hong Kong auctions, and the strong high-end market for Chinese ceramics.^[1]

Some observers, such as James Pomfret of newspaper Art Daily noted the disappointing results on the overly-high bidding prices and pre-auction estimates,^[7] and art dealer James Hennessy states "It's always better to have ten hands go up in the air for a low estimate than to have two hands or no hands at a much higher estimate."^[7] Some bidders, such as Joseph Chan, a Hong Kong-based gallery owner, commented on the frail quality of the porcelains and wandered if the sellers was asking too much for the Meiyintang collection, and pointed out one of the major pieces "had a lot of damage" and he "was not surprised it didn't sell."^[8]

However, in spite of the disappointing results of the Meiyintang collection, the Sotheby's Hong Kong 8-days auction of Chinese and Asian art sold a record HK$3.49 billion ($447 million USD), including a new record for Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang at Sotheby's.^[5] It was also reported that the priciest piece of the Meiyintang collection, the Falangcai vase from the 18th century, though was not purchased during the auction, was later sold privately for HK$200 million ($25 million USD) after the auction ended.^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Art world awaits European trove of Chinese ceramics
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Meiyintang marvels". The Economist: pp. 92–93. March 19, 2011. 
3. ^ Majendie, Adam (9 February 2011). "Sotheby’s to Sell $121 Million of Meiyintang’s Chinese Ceramics". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-10/ullens-to-sell-16-7-million-of-chinese-art-at-sotheby-s-auction.html. Retrieved 20 March 2011. 
4. ^ "The Meiyintang Collection- An Important Selection of Chinese Porcelains". http://www.sothebys.com/app/paddleReg/paddlereg.do?dispatch=eventDetails&event_id=30688. Retrieved 20 March 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Sotheby's in record $447 mln Asian art auction
6. ^ Auction of rare Chinese ceramics fails to fetch pre-sale estimates
7. ^ ^{a b} Major Chinese Ceramics Sale at Sotheby's in Hong Kong Fails to Live Up to Hype
8. ^ Sotheby's Sale of Imperial Chinese Porcelain Falls Flat