Global auction sales of Chinese antiques and art falls to 10-year low

Global auction sales of Chinese art and antiques fell in 2019 to $5.7 billion, a 10 percent drop year-on-year, and the lowest level for the collecting category since 2010.

The Global Chinese Art Auction market report, compiled by Artnet and the Chinese Association of Auctioneers, found this was due to trade tensions between the United States and China, as well as a slowdown of GDP in China.

The report, now in its eighth edition, noted that the value of total auction sales within the Chinese mainland declined by 10 percent in 2019 to $3.7 billion, the lowest total since 2010.

Outside China, there was also a 9 percent drop in sales of Chinese art and antiques.

"The combination of such slowdowns resulted in a weakening of collectors' confidence and a more cautious attitude among buyers making decisions on investing in art in 2019," said the report.

However, despite the downturn in total sales value for Chinese art and antiques in 2019, the European market showed some positive trends emerging.

Significant peaks in lots offered and lots sold in Europe, combined with a strong sell-through rate of 61 percent in 2019.

Europe accounted for 29 percent of all Chinese art and antique lots sold overseas in 2019, according to the report, closing in on the North American market's share.

The annual report also found strong performances with 20th century and contemporary Chinese art in both the Chinese mainland and overseas, boosted by a younger generation of Chinese collectors.

The average price for the category soared in the Chinese mainland, up by 23 percent year-on-year, and overseas sales saw a nine-year high in 2019.

But fine Chinese paintings and calligraphy, the largest collecting category on the Chinese mainland, did not perform as well.

According to the report this category "continued to spiral downwards, reaching its lowest point in sales since 2013".

The number of lots dropped by 10 percent year-on-year, almost half of that of 2013 and it also struggled elsewhere, with the overseas total falling to a seven-year low.

Elsewhere, the report said Poly International and China Guardian remained the top two earners for Chinese art and antiques, collecting $1.61 billion, a modest increase of 3 percent year-on-year, as their combined market share rose up to 28 percent, from 24 percent in 2018.