Phillips Hong Kong Opens with Imperial Qing Collection and Top Lots by Nara, Kusama

Key facts

• Phillips opens new Asia headquarters on March 18, 2023, in WKCDA Tower, West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong.
• The 52,000-square-meter space is designed by Herzog & de Meuron and faces M+ Museum.
• Spring auctions include 20th Century & Contemporary Art (March 30-31), Jewels Online (March 17-29), and Watches Online (March 28-April 4).
• Opening day features a collection of objects from Aisin-Gioro Puyi, last Qing emperor, in association with Bacs & Russo.
• Puyi collection includes a Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune, fan, notebook, watercolors, and Confucius's Analects.
• Puyi was held captive in the USSR from 1945 to 1950; objects reflect his friendship with a Soviet official.
• Yoshitomo Nara's 1995 painting 'Lookin' for a Treasure' is a top lot, from a series of four canvases.
• One Nara canvas is in Tokushima Modern Art Museum; the other two have never been auctioned.
• 1995 was key for Nara: first book, Blum & Poe collaboration, SCAI the Bathhouse solo show.
• Phillips Chairman Asia Jonathan Crockett noted Nara's top ten auction results in last four years.
• Yayoi Kusama's 'Pumpkin' estimated up to $6.4 million, proceeds to Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum, Iowa.
• 'Pumpkin' was owned by Karen and Robert Duncan for 23 years.
• Kusama's retrospective 'Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now' is at M+ Museum, largest in Asia outside Japan.
• Kusama's 'Infinity Dots (HTI)' triptych (2x4m) offered first time at auction, estimate $3.2-3.8 million.