The Association of Accredited Auctioneers, known as Triple A, is holding its inaugural auction in mainland China on April 21 in partnership with Huachen Auctions and the online bidding platform EpaiLive.com.
The 400 lots in the auction, assembled from all over the United Kingdom, have an estimated sale value of £8 million.
Shrewsbury based auction house Halls is one of the 21 regional UK auctioneers, which formed Triple A and fine art director, Jeremy Lamond, is the organisation’s secretary.
The significance of this month’s auction in Xiamen cannot be underestimated, said Mr Lamond, who will be attending a reception at the British ambassador’s residence in Beijing on Friday. In 2011, the Chinese Ministry of Culture estimated the Chinese art market to be worth $33 billion.
“For Halls, as a Shropshire based auction house, the potential of this auction is enormous,” he explained. “There will be, for the first time, a Chinese mainland auction outlet for UK sourced art and antiques, selling directly into the Chinese collecting market and benefiting clients in Shropshire and beyond.
“It is hoped that these new physical links with China will change the regional auctioneering landscape in Britain forever and establish a permanent market outlet for Western art and antiques to an interested and engaged Chinese audience.
“The auction in Xiamen will allow Halls and firms of a similar size around the country to sell items in another country where the antiques collecting base is rumoured to consist of some 70 million people.”
He explained that the Chinese had been buying at auction in Europe and the United States for some years, but it is only recently that the market in Chinese art has really taken off.
“Suddenly, Chinese economic clout is everywhere in the salerooms, with some extraordinary prices paid for Chinese art in the regional auction houses,” he added.
“The market peaked in 2010/11 and has settled down since then as the Chinese become more discerning and their attention switches to Western art and antiques, whilst continuing to cherry pick the very best offerings of Asian art.
“The formation of Triple A has coincided with the crest of this economic wave and has allowed regional UK auctioneers to travel in groups to China to give presentations on Western art and antiques to an interested and financially savvy audience.
“The Chinese place great emphasis in business on ‘guanxi’, or personal relationships and the formation of Triple A has allowed UK auctioneers to establish relationships in a credible and lasting way.”