Chinese burn

A kind of madness has taken grip of the art market. It seems that the world’s super-rich have decided that money has no value — or at least that it has a value different from that understood by the rest of us. Just this month, one of Alma Tadema’s fanciful biblical epics was sold for an incredible $36 million (previous auction record $2.8 million), a Modigliani changed hands at $69 million (previous record $31 million), while a now famous porcelain vase made for the Emperor Qianlong, which turned up in a bungalow in Pinner, realised more than £53 million — a world auction record for any Chinese work of art.

Of all global art markets, none is more feverish than that of Chinese art. So rapidly is it rising for the most desirable works that even yesterday’s prices are rendered meaningless. A new auction record for Chinese porcelain had only been set last month when, in her latest record-breaking bid, business magnate Alice Cheng had paid $18.2