Christie's holds inaugural auction

Christie's announced its official entry to the Chinese mainland with an inaugural auction on Thursday night that earned 153 million yuan ($25 million) without buyer's premiums.

The top lot was a ruby and diamond necklace that sold for 18 million yuan. Picasso's Seated Man, sought by five Chinese bidders, fetched 9.6 million yuan, becoming the first Picasso work ever auctioned on the Chinese mainland.

In an additional charity sale, Cai Guoqiang's gunpowder drawing, Homeland, which he created a day before the auction, sold for 15 million yuan, which will go to support the Quanzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in his hometown in Fujian province.