"A total of 125 major works from Japan's Okada Museum of Art hit the auction block at Sotheby's Hong Kong on Saturday, achieving white-glove status (meaning all works sold). The sale netted the equivalent of $88 million (plus fees) and set two auction records for Japanese artists Kitagawa Utamaro and Hokusai. Sotheby's told ARTnews that the collection was "estimated in excess of $50 million.""
"Utamaro's Fukagawa in Snow, painted in the early 19th century, was the night's top lot, selling to a Japanese private collector for $7.1 million, with over 30 bids placed.Hokusai's iconic The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa (1830-32) almost tripled its high estimate to sell for $2.8 million, also to a Japanese private collector. During an 8-minute battle, more than 20 bids were placed on the work, which is arguably the world's most famous Japanese woodblock print. It is part of Hokusai's prized "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" series. London's British Museum owns three works from the series, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has four, and the Maidstone Museum in the UK has one."
One hundred twenty-five major works from the Okada Museum of Art were offered at Sotheby's Hong Kong and every lot sold. The sale realized the equivalent of $88 million plus fees and established auction records for Kitagawa Utamaro and Hokusai. Kazuo Okada sold the artworks to settle a $50 million legal bill stemming from a long-running feud with Steve Wynn. The collection was described as the most significant collection of East Asian art to come to auction in recent memory. Nineteen works sold for more than $1.2 million, including Shang dynasty relics and Qing dynasty vases.
Read at ARTnews.com
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