Sotheby’s had anticipated a total of $233m for its spring series of auctions in Hong Kong. As it turned out, the auction house did quite a bit better, achieving a result of $316m. Contributing to that tally was the $60m generated by its sale of Fine Chinese paintings. That was more than double the $25.6m estimate. Top seller was a pair of gold screens by Qi Baishi, “Willows At The Riverside; Begonias” (1922), which realized $9m, more than three times its $2.6m high estimate.Another bright spot was the $64m result for the sale of jewels. An 8.01-carat fancy vivid blue diamond ring took top honors at $12.7m, followed by an 18.11-carat brilliant-cut diamond that sold for $3.96m, and a fancy pink diamond ring for which a buyer paid $3.2m. As expected, the highlight of the week was a 900-year old ceramic Ru bowl that had been expected to sell for as much as $10.3m. That turned out to be a conservative estimate. It sold for an astonishing $26m.
