Last week, when all eyes were on the $2.2 billion marquee sales in New York, Sotheby’s achieved another historic result in Hong Kong with the white-glove sale of masterpieces from Japan’s Okada Museum of Art, which generated HK$688 million ($88 million) across 125 works. Staged as a single-owner sale during the Asian Art sales series, the auction saw 19 lots surpass the $10 million mark. Topping the sale was Kitagawa Utamaro’s monumental panoramic ukiyo-e masterpiece Fukagawa in Snow (Fukagawa no yuki), which achieved HK$55,275,000 ($7,101,179) over an HK$8,000,000 high estimate, selling to a Japanese collector after a lengthy eight-minute bidding battle with more than 30 bids. The composition unfolds as a full dioramic panorama, capturing the atmosphere of a grand Fukagawa teahouse in winter: the upper floor bustling with movement and activity, animated by customs and rituals specific to the Fukagawa licensed quarters. Through the fukinuki-yatai “blown-off roof” convention, Utamaro reveals geisha, attendants and visitors engaged in music, games and daily rituals, framed by snow-laden pines. Rich pigments, intricate details and twenty-seven figures animate this three-meter-wide scene that is unprecedented in scale within his oeuvre.
Born around 1753, Utamaro trained under the Kano-school painter Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788), becoming renowned for his bijin-ga, or portraits of beautiful women—especially in the okubi-e style, characterized by large-headed bust portraits. Female figures sit at the very center of this monumental print, whose vibrant storytelling encapsulates all the elements that made Utamaro one of the most celebrated ukiyo-e artists of the Edo period. Today, the work stands as an extraordinary testament to his virtuosity and the cultural world of the licensed pleasure quarters.
The other top lot of the session was Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), widely known as The Great Wave, which fetched HK$21,725,000—far exceeding its HK$8,000,000 high estimate. Approximately 8,000 impressions were produced of the work, though only about 130 prints survive. Comparable examples can be found in the collections of the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This edition sold to a Japanese collector for more than three times its estimate after a fierce eight-minute bidding battle, with over 20 bids placed in the room, via Sotheby’s specialists on the phone and online.
There was also heated competition for three other iconic prints from Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, each of which surpassed its high estimate. Another masterpiece of Hokusai’s beauty portraiture, A Summer Morning (Natsu no asa), soared to HK$20,505,000 ($2,634,277), pushed by 22 bids to nearly triple its HK$7,000,000 high estimate. Similarly intense bidding—with 42 bids—ratcheted up the price of Ito Jakuchu’s (1716-1800) poetic Cockerel among Flowers to six times its estimate, with the work ultimately selling for HK$9,525,000 ($1,223,677).
Advisory Gurr Johns managed the museum liquidation
Global art advisory and appraisal firm Gurr Johns managed the entire deaccessioning process—from appraisal to sale, and all legal and tax requirements—over more than two years. The Okada Museum of Art in Hakone, Japan (founded in 2013 by billionaire collector Kazuo Okada), was compelled to sell this trove of masterworks to settle a roughly $50 million legal bill owed by Okada.
<img decoding="async" class="lazyload wp-image-1601976 size-full-width" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-24-at-12.41.27-PM.png?w=970" alt="A group of auctioneers and Sothebyâs staff stand in front of the rostrum during an auction session in Hong Kong." width="970" height="535" data-caption='The global art advisory firm Gurr Johns played a key role in steering the Okada Museum’s court-ordered consignment, overseeing valuation and strategy. <span class="lazyload media-credit">Photo: Charlie Horne</span>’>
“After meeting a litigator in Miami who asked me if we could appraise and help sell an Asian art museum collection, Gurr Johns was engaged to appraise the Okada Museum Collection on behalf of the corporate receivers in a Hong Kong bankruptcy case,” president Charlie Horne told Observer. “The collection, comprising masterworks of Asian art, required a comprehensive valuation to establish a foundation for both legal and commercial decision-making.” Following completion of the appraisal, Gurr Johns was awarded the highly competitive consignment mandate over leading international auction houses. “Our independence as an advisory firm, combined with our ability to tailor solutions across jurisdictions, proved decisive in moving this complex matter forward,” Horne added, explaining how, in close collaboration with New York and Hong Kong counsel, they developed a bespoke consignment structure. “Particular care was taken to address the legal requirements of a receivership sale while simultaneously preserving the value and integrity of the collection.”
Stellar results for Chinese and Korean Art
The Ya Yi fanglei vessel, dated to the late Shang dynasty, sold for HK$38,805,000 ($4,985,278), after more than 45 bids for nearly ten times its high estimate. A fine doucai gilt-decorated “bajixiang” tianqiuping vase from the Qianlong period squarely met expectations, achieving HK$33,925,000 ($4,358,345) after a HK$60,000,000 high estimate. A superb celadon-glazed lotus-mouth bottle vase of the Yongzheng period soared to HK$30,875,000 (US$3,966,511), nearly doubling its high estimate after 23 bids. Strong demand also propelled an extremely rare Tang dynasty sancai-glazed hawk-form ewer to HK$22,945,000 (approximately US$2,947,744)—eight times its high estimate, with 31 bids placed.
The intense competition continued across additional lots, which included a very rare, transparent-glazed “parrot” cup from the Sui–early Tang dynasty, which climbed to HK$18,187,000 (US$2,336,484), surpassing its high estimate by eleven times after 47 bids. An exceptional Yongle-period blue and white “peony” ewer realized HK$16,845,000 (US$2,164,077), doubling its high estimate with 21 bids placed.
Some museum-grade masterpieces of Korean art also exceeded expectations, led by an exquisite slip-inlaid celadon-glazed kundika from the 13th-century Goryeo dynasty, which achieved HK$2,159,000 ($277,367). A celadon stoneware inlaid maebyong from the 12th century, which sold for HK$1,524,000 (US$195,788), nearly doubling its HK$600,000-800,000 estimate.
Strong demand in New York from Asian collectors
It was a week of successful sales globally for the auction house, driven in a large part by Asian buyers not only in Hong Kong but also in New York—reaffirming that while Asian buyers tend to be more selective, they are highly engaged when it comes to pursuing once-in-a-lifetime masterpieces. Indeed, Sotheby’s reported that Asian bidders accounted for 30 percent of the total amount bid in New York, chasing several of the Evening Sale’s headline lots. “Collectors in Asia have long been key participants in the art market, and their engagement already this season shows how powerfully they mobilize when works of exceptional quality come to auction,” Evelyn Lin, Sotheby’s Asia chairman for Modern & Contemporary Art, said in a statement.
While Patti Wong narrowly missed securing Edvard Munch’s Sankthansnatt (Midsummer Night), she won Gustav Klimt’s Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee) (1916) for $68.3 million—one of only two museum-grade Klimts in the record-setting $706 million Leonard A. Lauder sale. She told Observer that she assisted three clients from the region in pursuing each of the Klimt masterpieces on offer and also served as a direct underbidder on the Munch. “Demand for art among Asian collectors has remained strong, despite speculation to the contrary. Collectors are actively seeking works at the highest level,” she said. In the same session, Klimt’s drawing Study for Portrait I of Adele Bloch-Bauer sold to Yasuaki Ishizaka, Sotheby’s senior advisor in Japan, bidding on behalf of a client, while Agnes Martin’s Garden was directly underbid by Jen Hua, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and chairman of Sotheby’s China.
<img decoding="async" class="lazyload size-full-width wp-image-1601952" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" data-src="https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/SOTHEBYS2025_1118_201004-6699_ALIVE.jpg?quality=80&w=970" alt="A Sothebyâs auctioneer in a black suit stands in front of a crowded room with Gustav Klimtâs portrait of a woman hanging beside a bidding screen showing Antonio Obáâs AlvoradaâMusica Incidental Black Bird." width="970" height="647" data-caption='Phyllis Kao led Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction, which netted $178.5 million with strong participation from Asia. <span class=”lazyload media-credit”>Julian Cassady Photography / Ali</span>’>
Featuring Sotheby’s charismatic Phyllis Kao at the rostrum, The Now & Contemporary Evening Sale’s $178 million result also saw robust bidding from Asia. Works by Antonio Obá, Yu Nishimura and Yves Klein all saw aggressive competition from senior Sotheby’s Asia specialists Jen Hua and Wendy Lin. Nishimura’s thicket ultimately sold for $711,200 to Lin on behalf of a phone bidder, marking a new record for the rising Japanese painter. The night’s star lot—Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto)—went to Hua bidding for an Asian client for $48.3 million. Matthew Wong’s The Gentle Sea was also won by Hua after an intense exchange in which Lin served as the direct underbidder.
Asian collectors remain significant drivers of demand at the very top of the contemporary market, even as they have stepped back from the ultracontemporary speculative surge. Strong participation from Asia contributed to the success of the Cindy & Jay Pritzker Collection sale, where museum-grade European modernism drew notable interest, yielding a total of $109.5 million across just 13 lots. Camille Pissarro’s Bords de l’Oise à Pontoise saw brisk bidding from Asia, while major works by Henri Matisse and Fernand Léger were both acquired by Asian collectors.
The momentum continued in Exquisite Corpus, where Asian buyers secured key Surrealist and early modernist works. Max Ernst’s J’ai bu du tabourin, j’ai mangé du cymbal ($2,246,000), Giorgio De Chirico’s Le Muse inquietanti ($2,978,000) and René Magritte’s Le Symbole dissimulé ($2,490,000) were all acquired by collectors from the region. Salvador Dalí’s Symbiose de la tête aux coquillages attracted intense bidding from Asia, and an Asian collector served as a direct underbidder on Hans Bellmer’s Les Bas rayés. The Modern Evening Sale followed suit, with Joan Miró’s Personnages et oiseau devant le soleil inspiring robust competition from Asia. Claude Monet’s Vue de Rouen depuis la côte Sainte-Catherine attracted similar demand from the region, with Jen Hua again serving as the direct underbidder.
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