In 1766, James Christie founded Christie’s Auction House in London, England. Since then, it has grown steadily to become one of the leading auction houses in the world. Today, Christie’s has over 80 categories of auctionable items, though they are primarily known for selling contemporary art, Impressionist art, and jewelry; they conduct about 350 auctions per year. Christie’s most famous auctions include the sale of a guan jar from the Yuan Dynasty, a Stradivarius violin, and Salvator Mundi: a rediscovered Leonardo Da Vici painting which sold for $450,312,500. Asia Week is an event Christie’s New York puts on where Asian art is auctioned. In 2020, Asia Week raised over $82,830,875, with thirteen records being broken over the course of the auction. Some of the pieces sold include Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave,” ($1,110,000), a bronze figure of Shiva Tripuravijaya ($4,350,000), and a Northern Qi grey limestone figure of Buddha ($2,550,000).
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