HONG KONG.- The work of the renowned Taiwan-born minimalist artist, Richard Lin (1933-2011) sparked high interest at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art in Hong Kong on 26 November with three pieces selling for at least three times their original estimates. The largely all-Asian sale achieved a total of HK$29,622,500 with 84% sold by lot and 73.52% sold by value.

Pieces included two sourced directly from Richard Lin’s estate – Painting Relief (1961) which sold for HK 3,940,000 against a pre-sale estimate of HK$1,000,000-2,000,000 and Untitled (The Black Sun) (1958-1960), selling for HK$3,460,000, against an estimate of HK$850,000-1,250,000. The third piece, Untitled (1967), also hammered down at HK$2,000,000, against a pre-sale estimate of HK$650,000-850,000.

In October this year, Bonhams held the artist’s first European retrospective exhibition at Bonhams Bond Street gallery in collaboration with the artist’s estate. Commenting from the auction room, Ralph Taylor, Global Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, said “This exhibition formed part of a global approach to introduce the artist and his work to collectors from around the world. The works outperformed all estimates with ferocious bidding within the auction room, by phone and online – we are delighted with the results.”

Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) was also highly sought after among collectors with three works presented in the sale, including Pumpkin, which sold for HK$3,940,000 (pre-sale estimate: HK$1,500,000-2,500,000); Infinity-Net 1959 at HK$3,700,000 (pre-sale estimate HK$3,000,000-5,000,000); and, The Earth at HK$1,100,000 (pre-sale estimate: HK$350,000-550,000).

Other key highlights included:

• Yu Youhan (b. 1943), Yi Mengshan 02 (2002), which sold for HK$1,875,000 (pre-sale estimate: HK$1,200,000-1,800,000), which comes from his series of landscape paintings after visiting the Yimeng Mountains in 2002 with his colleagues from the Shanghai Art and Design Academy

• Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957), Elefantes en la Selva (1932), which sold for HK$1,750,000 (pre-sale estimate: HK$800,000-1,200,000)

• Zeng Fanzhi (b.1964), Untitled (Portrait of Lawrence Schiller) (2007), sold for HK$1,062,500 (pre-sale estimate: HK$400,000-600,000)

• Yan Pei-Ming (b. 1960), Mitreya Buddha (2003), sold for HK$812,500 (pre-sale estimate: HK$400,000-600,000)