A boom in Asian art

Wealthy buyers are pushing up prices of Asian antiques and artworks, says Chris Carter.

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Suleyman fetched a magnificent £5.32m

"The prices of Asian antiques and artworks have rocketed over the past decade, driven by demand from wealthy Asian buyers seeking to reclaim a part of their heritage," says Victoria Brzezinski in The Times. Kakiemon, a style of Japanese porcelain from the late-17th century onwards, is a case in point. It was originally made and exported to the grand houses of Europe by the Dutch East India Company, Mark Hinton, head of Japanese artworks at Sotheby's, tells Brzezinski. And centuries later, Kakiemon, along with Japanese porcelain in general, is still seeing "greater interest" from collectors. That shouldn't be a surprise. Eastern styles have a long history of influencing Western artists, and vice versa.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.