Christie's, one of the world's leading auction houses, says it has seen one of the most successful half years in its history, bringing the hammer down on around $2.57 billion of fine and decorative arts worldwide through January to June.

The Absinthe Drinker, Pablo Picasso's 1903 masterpiece from his Blue Period, fetched $51.58 million and ranks No 4 in the top 10 works of art sold at Christie's. [China Daily]

Sales surged by 46 percent, compared to $1.8 billion for the same period last year, indicating global confidence in the art market.

Christie's top sales included Pablo Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, a 1932 portrait of his mistress, which fetched $106.5 million in May - a new record for the highest price paid for any work of art at auction.

Edward Dolman, chief executive officer of Christie's, attributes the success of the sales to "the power of great art sourced from notable collections", including the Brody, Crichton, Songde Tang and Spencer Collections that Christie's presented to the marketplace.

"Great works continue to inspire and prices demonstrate a sustained commitment to art as a store of value," he says.

Christie's major rival Sotheby's announced total aggregate auction sales of $2.2 billion in the first half of 2010, an increase of 116 percent.

Christie's figures also demonstrate the growing role of Asia in the art market, as it continues to see significant return on its investment and leadership in the region. Its sales in Hong Kong totaled $300.7 million in the first six months, up 132 percent from the same period of last year.

The sales of "Fine Chinese Classical Paintings", "The Songde Tang Collection of Chinese Modern Paintings" and "Fine Chinese Modern Paintings" brought in a combined total of HK$426.7 million ($54.8 million), which shows the continuing strong performance of Chinese paintings in the marketplace.

Hong Kong auctioneering has been facing growing challenges from its Chinese mainland competitors since last autumn. The Beijing-based Artron Art Market Monitoring Center (AAMI) reveals in its 2010 spring art market report that mainland auction houses achieved total sales of 10.491 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) for Chinese painting and calligraphy.

However, the report says Hong Kong will continue to be the nucleus of highly sought-after imperial ceramics and other exquisite antiques.

Christie's says its department of Chinese ceramics and works of art auctioned HK$673.3 million ($86.5 million), representing quite significant growth.

The sales of contemporary Chinese art seemed to rebound from its slump. Late Chinese artiest Chen Yifei's String Quartet set a new auction record for the artist at HK$61.1 million ($7.9 million).

"The contemporary Chinese art market has proven to be remarkably resilient, we have found that fine works by recognized artists continue to bring strong prices," says Ingrid Dudek, vice-president and senior specialist with Christie's Asian Contemporary Art department.

"Historic and iconic works with good provenance and fresh to the market will remain in high demand."

Meanwhile, a sale of Chinese works at Christie's New York fetched a highest ever total of $40 million in March.

Dolman says that despite the still complicated economic context, "Christie's continues to see strength and depth in both vendor confidence and buyer activity We approach the second half with cautious but optimistic expectations of continued art market strength."

At the forthcoming Fall Asian Art Week, Christie's New York will auction 118 lots of archaic Chinese bronzes from the Anthony Hardy Collection on Sept 16. The collection, valued in excess of $15 million features a rare ritual tripod food vessel (li), an important ritual wine vessel and cover (fangyi), and an impressively large ritual wine vessel known as zun, all from the late Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century BC).