Art of the matter

"We are into our 16th year now," says Jessica Curtis, project director at Asian Art in London. "We formed after a group of dealers got together and decided we needed an event to provide a focus for Asian art in London.

"The aim is to provide this focus and coordinate when the main auctions and exhibitions are happening. We also collaborate with institutions on talks, debates, lectures and exhibitions, so there is an educational aspect as well.

"Last year we had 54 galleries and four auction houses participating, and we also work with the British Museum, the V&A Museum, the British Library and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Everyone coordinates their events."

Events such as these, combined with London's depth of knowledge when it comes to Chinese art, means that Europe is likely to remain an important center for years to come, according to Jacqueline Simcox, a dealer who specializes in Chinese silk textiles.

"London is still one of the top destinations for Chinese art," Simcox says. "You've got huge expertise, whether you're talking about the dealers themselves or the auction rooms and the museums. You have Asian art and the knowledge about it represented in depth. That's from decades of knowledge being here. It's not something new.

"Many dealers in London have businesses in the second or third generation of the family, who've been specialists in Chinese art for decades. The London dealers are finding they have acquired Chinese mainland clients simply because the clients have come to them.

"I've gone out to do sales in Hong Kong and we've met Chinese mainland museums and collectors who have become clients. Auction houses feel they need to take the goods closer to China but the dealers don't always feel the same. The clients are coming to us."

Simcox is helping to ensure London remains a knowledge center for Chinese art. She currently teaches a post-graduate course on Chinese textiles at SOAS. It will take such initiative if Europe is to maintain a share of Chinese art investment as collectors become more cautious with their money.

"We find buyers buy on the perception of the dealers themselves, how knowledgeable they are regarded in the market. Because London has been a center for so long, it means art comes into the country just to be sold," Simcox says.

"But the market is erratic. I think we are in the middle of a rapidly changing period. In five years' time people will be saying something entirely different. Things used to move far more slowly."

For China Daily

(China Daily 04/12/2013 page19)