panel painting by artist Zhang Xiaogang has set a record auction price for Chinese contemporary art, selling for 79m Hong Kong dollars ($10m). Sotheby's, which ran the Hong Kong auction, said the triptych, “Forever Lasting Love,” was sold Sunday. The price broke the previous record of $9.7m set by Zeng Fanzhi's “Mask Series 1996 No. 6,” which was auctioned in Hong Kong in 2008. “Forever Lasting Love” was one of 105 artworks belonging to Belgian collector Guy Ullens and his wife Myriam that went on the block over the weekend. Sotheby's said Monday that works from “The Ullens Collection The Nascence of Avant-Garde China” brought in $54.77m, much higher than the $12.7m to $16.7m presale estimate.
