Seen as the barometer of a country's economy, the ups and downs of art markets are always closely observed. The results of China's first autumn art auctions appear inspiring, as news of record-breaking prices hit the headlines.

Auction giant Beijing Hanhai Art Auctions concluded three days of successful sales Wednesday, signaling that China's art market is well on its way to recovery.

"Flute Player" by Chen Yifei. [Global Times]

Among the works put up for sale by Hanhai, ranging from antiques, jade, traditional Chinese painting and furniture to modern painting and sculpture, renowned Chinese modern artist Chen Yifei's (1946-2005) oil painting "Flute Player" had been the center of talks by both collectors and art lovers. It went under the hammer Tuesday fetching an extraordinarily high 32.48 million yuan (US$4.76 million), far beyond its expected price of 20 million yuan (US$2.94 million), which was already considered sky-high."Flute Player" was created during Chen's stay in the US in the 1980s and is widely seen as one of the Chinese Realist master's representative works. The painting features a beautiful American girl playing Chinese music on a flute, projecting an overwhelming sense of tranquility as well as a gentle sadness from her face.

As a court painter particularly appreciated by Emperor Qianlong (1711-99), Jin made great achievements in the fields of both landscape painting and the painting of beautiful women and flowers, later known as Chinese Court Painting. In the auctioned piece were Qianlong's five stamps as well as a poem created and written by the emperor.

While the first of China's autumn auctions have registered positive results, many of the larger auctions, from houses such as China Guardian, Beijing Council International and Beijing Poly are still to come. An overwhelming majority of those in the art-auction world are now tipping a large-scale recovery of the art market.

"Undoubtedly the outcomes of this year's autumn auctions will be far better than last year," said collector Hua Yuzhou, owner of Hwa's Gallery in Shanghai. "After all, people around the country are saying that economic recovery is on the way."

Tian Kai, director of the Oil Painting and Sculpture Department of Beijing Huachen Auction House expressed his confidence in the market's recovery.

"We have many reasons to be optimistic, for example, the steady support from local collectors," Tian explained, adding that Chinese traditional paintings and modern oil paintings will be the two most popular items, his prediction in line with the outcome of Hanhai's auctions.