The data, compiled by the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and SDA Bocconi School of Management, shows the MM Chinese Art Price Index rose 1.7%, while Impressionist art surged 15.0% and Contemporary pieces gained 10.8%. Professor Jianping Mei notes that while confidence is clearly returning, the recovery remains highly selective.

This uneven momentum is particularly evident in the Chinese sector. While Contemporary art and Oil Painting saw gains of 18.6% and 21.9% respectively, Modern and Ink categories slipped by 4.7% and 4.0%. This divergence underscores a flight toward internationally recognized, liquid assets. Despite recent fluctuations, Chinese art maintains a dominant long-term record, boasting a compound annual growth rate of 7.8% since 2000, significantly outpacing the 4.8% seen in Contemporary and 3.5% in Impressionist segments. Across Europe, France led the recovery with a 24.7% increase, followed by the UK at 18.5% and Germany at 6.0%, though Italian markets faced a slight decline of 3.2%.