A visitor (L) looks at Chinese painter Xu Beihong's 'Slave and Lion', expected to fetch over $32 million ($4.1 million) to set a world auction record for the artist at an upcoming auction, during a Christie's preview in Hong Kong November 23, 2006.. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Bobby Yip

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Christie's is eyeing to break its HK$1.2 billion ($154.2 million) Asia sales record next week when it auctions artworks and jewellery from a region that is all the rage with wealthy international and Chinese buyers.

The global auction house's autumn sales season starts on Sunday in Hong Kong. It will be the largest ever in Asia and includes some 2,500 classical and modern paintings, luxury watches, jewellery and ceramics, predominantly from the region.

"I'm very confident it's going to break the record," said Ken Yeh, deputy chairman of Christie's Asia, about the autumn sales. The HK$1.2 billion record was set at the spring auctions in May.

"It's not just in Asia ... it's global, I think there's just too much money around. People are just eager to buy," he added.

The rosy outlook comes on the heels of what was billed as the biggest auction in history in New York, when Christie's pulled in $491 million for its Nov. 9 sale of Impressionist and modern art.

In Asia, bullish stock markets and robust economies are helping fuel the art frenzy.

Yeh said he expected Asian art prices to surge for at least the next two years, due to the seemingly insatiable demand from international and Chinese buyers for Chinese art, particularly contemporary paintings.

Christie's said at least 25 percent of its buyers are Chinese and that number is rising with each auction.

According to Christie's, Hong Kong is the world's third most important art market in in terms of turnover after New York and London. Its proximity to China and low taxes have helped turn it into the region's auction hub.

Among the notable items going under the hammer starting Sunday is an Imperial Qing dynasty "swallows" bowl, which once belonged to the Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton and which could fetch a record HK$60-80 million.

Another record could be set if a rare oil painting, "Slave and Lion", by renowned Chinese painter Xu Beihong is sold for more than HK$32 million.

Other works on offer include "Tiananmen Square" by Zhang Xiaogang, perhaps the hottest contemporary Chinese artist at the moment, "Potted Chrysanthemum in a Blue and White Jardiniere" by Sanyu and "Nude at the window" by Pan Yuliang.