Sales for Asia Week New York, a nine-day event that ended on March 21, totaled $360 million, up 80 percent from last year’s total of $200 million. About $270 million came from auction sales, led by the sale of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth’s Asian art collection at Christie’s, which brought in more than $124 million. The 42 galleries involved in Asia Week sold about $90 million worth of art, up from $78 million last year.
At Sotheby’s, the Chinese collector Liu Yiqian paid $14 million for a 600-year-old album of Chinese scrolls by Zheng He, a Ming Dynasty navigator and diplomat. The presale estimate was $100,000 to $150,000.
Mr. Liu, who paid $45 million last year at Christie’s Hong Kong for a 600-year-old Tibetan silk tapestry, and $36 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for a Ming teacup decorated with chickens, customarily pays with an American Express card. It took 24 swipes to complete the teacup purchase because of Sotheby’s limits on single credit-card transactions. With the Tibetan purchase, Mr. Liu earned 18 million frequent-flier miles.
“Sales were strong throughout the week, and we saw more new buyers than ever before,” said James Lally of J.J. Lally & Co., in Manhattan, which sold four different Ming Dynasty bronze incense burners to a single collector. Carlton Rochell Asian Art, also in Manhattan, sold 25 works for a total of more than $8 million.
“There were a lot of Chinese first-time buyers who came here for the Ellsworth sale,” said Carol Conover, the chairwoman of Asia Week and the director of Kaikodo Asian Art. “They came from Taiwan and Hong Kong too.”
But curators from American museums also turned out in force, bringing large numbers of donors with them. “A lot of the dealers I talked to said that that was a big component,” Ms. Conover said.
An earlier version of this post misstated part of a comment by Carol Conover, chairwoman of Asia Week. She said that a lot of Chinese first-time buyers had come for the Ellsworth sale, not the "Ellison" sale.