The auction’s success marks an important milestone in the city-state’s positioning as Asia’s next key art hub amid a growing collector base. Singapore has become a safe harbour for some of the region’s wealthiest in recent years with rival Hong Kong losing appeal due to China’s increasing grip on the former British colony.
Sotheby’s said it sold art works worth nearly $24.5 million in its first auction in Singapore in 15 years, beating a pre-sale estimate of about $18 million.
Nearly half of the works in the sale achieved prices over their high estimates, the auction house said in a statement after proceedings. Walter Spies’s Tierfabel (Animal Fable) sold for just over $4 million, while a Willem Gerard Hofker composition went for about $2.3 million and nearly double its high estimate, it said.
