Sotheby's modern and contemporary art evening sales in Hong Kong on Wednesday evening brought in a total of $164.2 million with premium, falling within the pre-sale estimate of HK$927 million–1.4 billion ($118 million–$178 million).

Despite the severe pandemic-related precautions in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the sale succeeded well, with high sell-through rates and records set for 14 acts. Anna Weyant, Louise Bonnet, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Robert Alice, Chris Huen Sin Kan, Michael Lau, Atsushi Kaga, and Peter McDonald were among those that participated.

Sotheby's was obliged to postpone the event from its regular date in early April because of Hong Kong's severe coronavirus procedures, which have left many public venues unoccupied. As a result, Sotheby's held the auction in a gallery in Hong Kong's Pacific Place complex.

The aggregate total was much lower than the same set of sales last April, which brought in a hammer total of HK$1.46 billion, or HK$ 2.1 billion with premium ($269.8 million), over 91 works sold.

The five-hour event was divided into three auctions: normal auctions for modern and contemporary art, followed by a single-lot sale of a De Beers blue diamond, which was purchased for HK$451 million ($57.5 million) by an anonymous phone bidder. The gem was sold for more than its estimated value of $48 million.

Nearly half of the buyers placed their bids online, with the majority of the rest contacting auction specialists in Sotheby's London and New York offices. High-value works by Pablo Picasso and Louise Bourgeois headlined the night's auction series, as part of a continuing effort to showcase big lots by historical blue-chip Western artists to established collectors in the Asia-Pacific area.

“Western artists have come to feature relatively large in our Hong Kong sales,” said Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s chairman of modern and contemporary art in Asia, in a statement following the sale. “But what’s particularly exciting for me is to see them in dialogue with their Asian counterparts.”

Among the top, lots of the sales were Picasso’s 1939 portrait of his muse and collaborator, the Surrealist photographer Dora Maar. It sold for HK$169.4 million ($21.6 million) to a Japanese collector. That number was more than the painting’s HK$138 million ($17.6 million) pre-sale estimate.

The result makes it the second-most expensive work by the Spanish modernist to sell at auction in the region.