Two pairs of museum-quality artworks by two Western Masters were finally unveiled on May 12 at a private event, A Masterpiece Revelation, hosted by Opteres and Hong Kong Tatler, ending weeks of intense speculation. Two hundred guests – Asia’s most established art collectors among them, and aficionados who flew in from California and London – gathered at ICC’s Sky 100 and witnessed the presentation of the following works, whose collective value is in excess of US$100 million: Joan Miró’s Self-portrait (1917) and Tuilerie à Montroig (1918), and René Magritte’s Le genre nocturne (1928) and L’empire des luminières I (1949). These works have been off the market for more than three decades.
Among those present were some of the region’s most notable art collectors and connoisseurs, including China’s Lin Ning (wife of China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin), Hong Kong’s Yana Peel, Taiwan’s Ellie Lai, and Singapore’s Kaori Zage. Also present were Max and Monique Burger, as well as Uli and Rita Sigg, the Swiss collectors who recently donated their world-class collection of contemporary Chinese art to Hong Kong’s M+ Museum.
The momentous unveiling is set to become one of the outstanding events of Hong Kong’s annual Art Week. The evening commenced with an elegant sunset reception, where guests mingled and sampled award-winning wines from Cossia Castiglioni’s biodynamic Tuscan winery, Querciabella, and innovative vegan canapés from acclaimed US celebrity chef Matthew Kenney, who flew in especially for the event. Kenney's kelp noodles with black pepper and chanterelles proved to be a runaway hit that evening, along with the coconut samosas served in delicate bamboo steamers. Vintages of the excellent wines included the Batàr 2001, 2007 and 2011, plus the Camartina 2000, 2004 and 2010; guests were gifted special 1999 vintages of the Camartina as a memorable keepsake. Live musical interludes came courtesy of 12 English singers – all soloists in their own right – who came together especially for the occasion. The pieces performed were all written by J S Bach.