MANILA, Philippines - At the Christie?s auction of Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art held in Hong Kong last Saturday, a 1960 work by the late modernist artist Fernando Zobel was the most expensive Philippine artwork sold at P6 million.

?Noche Clara,? a 36 x 24 inch oil-on-canvas painting, was estimated to sell only P2.4 million. It was was painted three years before Zobel, who died in 1984, started painting again in color.

The Christie?s catalogue describes the work as transcending ?the lineal quality of its composition that captures the essence of prose, poetry and rhythm in painting.?

Zobel?s other work, ?Academia XV,? sold for P4M.

But the excitement on the auction floor was clearly for work by younger artists.

?Bidding went up very fast for Yasmin Sison-Ching?s and Geraldine Javier?s works,? says Raymond Lee, filmmaker and owner of now-defunct UFO Gallery. With Zobel?s, it was more gradual.?

Javier?s work, ?Curating the Sky,? got sold for P4 million, at least 10 times more than its estimated selling price of between P220,000 and P385,000.

Yasmin Sison-Ching?s ?Into the Woods (Rabbit)? was sold for P2.1 million. Its estimated selling price was at least P220,000. On May 17, part of that ?Into the Woods? series was sold at the Borobudur auction in Singapore for half that price, at P1 million.

Ronald Ventura?s ?Transporter? also performed well, selling for P2 million.

While works by Vicente Manansala got sold, two paintings by Ang Kiu Kok and one by Pacita Abad didn?t even reach the reserve price.

Unexpected was the price realized for ?Angel,? a sculpture by Gabby Barredo, sold for P1.7 million. It was estimated to sell for only P385,000.

Christie?s pioneered the category of Southeast Asian Art over a decade ago, and this year?s auction featured over 130 works.

?The category?s diversity is compounded over recent years with the coming of age of contemporary art, which has taken the market by storm. It is this constant dialogue between the modern and the contemporary that runs through the works featured in this year?s sale,? said Ruoh-Ling Keong, specialist and head of Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie?s.

This year, Christie?s focused on the best of the Modern Masters.