Auctioning institutions in China: economic and legal aspects
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/EiP.2023.013Keywords
Chinese art market, auction houses, Chinese auction housesAbstract
Motivation: China is now the third largest art market in the world, and thanks to its long history, the country is able to offer a great artistic heritage. Chinese auctioning institutions have become one of the most significant in the world, having a massive global impact on art pricing. By establishing their sales infrastructure in new locales ahead of the traditional mechanisms of primary market commercial galleries, the Chinese auction houses have played a foundational role in the notional construction of new genres of art.
Aim: The main purpose of this article is to present a detailed analysis of Chinese auction houses and other auction institutions, with regards to the economic and legal aspects of their operation. The article is cross-sectional, showing how China has become the fastest growing art market in the world. The analysis provides evidence for the existence of various factors that determine the dynamic development of the Chinese art auctions market and determines the differences in the functioning of Chinese and Western auction houses.
Results: These results illustrate that exceptional economic and political factors made it possible to significantly develop the Chinese auction market in a very short time.
References
Agnello, R. (2002). Investment returns and risk for art: evidence from auctions of American paintings. Eastern Economic Journal, 28(4), 443–463.
Artnet, & CAA. (2020). Global Chinese art auction market report 2020. Retrieved 18.02.2023 from https://media.artnet.com/image/upload/v1637676979/2021/11/CAA_Report_2020_Digital_EN_2_lom6aw.pdf.
Auction law of the People’s Republic of China. (1996). Retrieved 18.02.2023 from http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/11/content_1383591.htm.
Baumol, W. (1986). Unnatural value: or art investment as floating crap game. American Economic Review, 76(2), 10–14.
Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. (2004). Retrieved 18.02.2023 from http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/englishnpc/Constitution/node_2825.htm.
Cuno, J. (2010). Who owns antiquity. Princeton University Press.
Dümcke, C., & Matassa, F. (2012). Valuation of works of art for lending and borrowing purposes. Retrieved 18.02.2023 from https://www.nck.pl/upload/attachments/302545/cdmckefmatassavaluationofworksofartreport2012.pdf.
Goetzmann, W.N. (1993). Accounting for taste: art and the financial markets over three centuries. American Economic Review, 83(5), 1370–1376.
Gruber, S. (2007). Protecting China’s cultural heritage sites in times of rapid change: current developments, practice and law. Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law, 10(3–4), 253–301.
Hansmann, H., & Kraakman, R. (2002). Property, contract, and verification: the numerus clausus problem and the divisibility of rights. Journal of Legal Studies, 31(2), 373–375.
Hsieh, S., Lee, J., & Tzeng, L. (2010). Art as an investment: empirical study of Asian contemporary and Chinese 20th century modern art. International Conference on Finance Department of Finance, 27, 1–24.
Huo, Z (2013) Two steps forward, one step back: a commentary on the judicial interpretation on the private international law act of China. Hong Kong Law Journal, 43, 685–712.
Huo, Z. (2016). Legal protection of cultural heritage in China: a challenge to keep history alive. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 22(4), 497–515.
Hutter, M., & Shusterman, R. (2006). Value and the valuation of art in economic and aesthetic theory. In V. Ginsburgh, & D. Throsby (Eds.), Handbook of the economics of art and culture, 1, 169–208. Elsevier.
Kamykowska, Z. (2020). Przemiany na chińskim rynku sztuki w latach 1949–2019. Nowa Polityka Wschodnia, 4(27), 117–131. https://doi.org/10.15804/npw20202707.
Kraeussl, R., & Logher, R. (2010). Emerging art markets. Emerging Markets Review, 11(4), 301–318.
Łakomska, B. (2015). Kolekcjonerstwo w Chinach do XII wieku n.e. Polski Instytut Studiów nad Sztuką Świata.
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the protection of cultural relics. (1982). Retrieved 18.02.2023 from http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/13/content_1384015.htm.
Li, Y. (2017). Thirty years of changes in the Chinese art market. China Civil Business, 11, 84–87.
Mandel, B.R. (2009). Art as an investment and conspicuous consumption good. The American Economic Review, 99(4), 1653–1663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.99.4.1653.
McAndrew. (2019). The art market 2019. Retrieved 18.02.2023 from https://d2u3kfwd92fzu7.cloudfront.net/The_Art_Market_2019-5.pdf.
McQuillan, W., & Lucey, B. (2016). The validity of Islamic art as an investment. Research in International Business and Finance, 36, 388–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2015.02.010.
Mei, J., & Moses, M. (2002). Art as an investment and the underperformance of masterpieces. American Economic Review, 92(5), 1656–1668. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282802762024719.
Ministry of Commerce. (2020). China auction industry development report 2019. Retrieved 18.02.2023 from https://auc.mofcom.gov.cn/auc_new/news/file/20201217202045925.pdf.
Renneboog, L., & Spaenjers, C. (2013). Buying beauty: on prices and returns in the art market. Management Science, 59(1), 36–53.
Shi, Y., Xu, H., Wang, M., & Conroy, P. (2017). Home bias in domestic art markets: evidence from China. Economic Letters, 159, 201–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2017.08.015.
Stein, J.P. (1977). The monetary appreciation of paintings. Journal of Political Economy, 85(5), 1021–1035. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/260619.
The criminal law of the People’s Republic of China. (1979). Retrieved 18.02.2023 from http://www.npc.gov.cn/zgrdw/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/13/content_1384075.htm.
Wang, F. (2017). Which part of the Chinese art market is more worth investing in: applying the quantile regression to analyze Chinese oil paintings 2000–2014. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 53(1), 44–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/1540496X.2016.1145113.
Whitler, K.A. (2019). What Western marketers can learn from China. Harvard Business Review, May–June.
Worthinghton, A.C., & Higgs, H. (2006). A note on financial risk, return and asset pricing in Australian modern and contemporary art. Journal of Cultural Economics, 30(1), 73–84.
Xiong, J. (2012). The Chinese art market and the origin of bubbles. Morningstar Advisor, August/September, 64–67.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Zuzanna Kamykowska
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 483
Number of citations: 0
