SHORT TAKES : $5.9 Million a China Art Record
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LONDON — A Tokyo art dealer paid $5.9 million today for an 8th-Century porcelain horse, a record price for Chinese art, Sotheby’s auctioneers said.
The price for the Tang Dynasty horse, stolen and chipped by thieves last month, was three times higher than Sotheby’s estimate and twice the previous record for Chinese art, an auction house spokesman said.
The buyer was identified only as Mr. Shimojo of Shimojo’s art dealers in Tokyo.
The 27-inch glazed porcelain statue was stolen from a Hong Kong warehouse last month and recovered only 10 days ago when Hong Kong police raided an apartment and arrested three men.
The horse, exhibited from 1985 to ’88 at the Dallas Museum of Art, was returned with a tiny chip in its green-colored saddle, Sotheby’s spokeswoman Polly Hitching said.
The previous record for Chinese art was $2.76 million paid for a rare Guanyao brush washer, or small porcelain dish, at a Hong Kong auction in May.
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