London collector Charles Saatchi, among the world's most powerful buyers on art trade publication lists, swapped German paintings for Chinese pictures to hang in his Chelsea museum yesterday at Phillips de Pury & Co.'s auction.

Martin Kippenberger's "Paris Bar" from 1993, seen in a 2005 show at Saatchi's old gallery, sold for 636,000 pounds ($1.29 million) with commission, more than doubling its top estimate. Zhang Xiaogang's "Bloodline Series" from 2005 cost Saatchi 804,000 pounds at a later Phillips auction, said Howard Farber, the seller of a 10.1 million pound Chinese collection, including the Zhang.

"He got a great deal on it," New York collector Farber said in an e-mail today. "It was the largest Zhang ever to be offered at auction."

Annabel Fallon, the Saatchi Gallery's spokeswoman, couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the Zhang purchase.

Saatchi, who made Damien Hirst's shark famous before selling it to hedge-fund manager Steven Cohen for $8 million, isn't buying Chinese art at the bottom of the market, as he did in the past with British and German art. Farber sold Wang Guangyi's "Great Criticism: Coca-Cola" yesterday for 63 times his cost in 1996, he said.

Still, Saatchi was mostly a winner at Phillips, though a Mini Cooper car covered in spots by Hirst failed to sell. Last shown at Saatchi's former River Thames museum, "Untitled (Spot Mini)" from 2000 had a top estimate of 600,000 pounds.

European Sales

Poland-born Wilhelm Sasnal's "Car" painting from 2002 had a high valuation of 70,000 pounds and took 98,400 pounds including commission. Phillips also dispatched works by Germany's Jorg Immendorff and Eberhard Havekost and the U.K.'s Cecily Brown, all seen in Saatchi's "The Triumph of Painting" shows.

Brown's 1999 "Night Passage," seen in Part II of the Saatchi show, hit its top estimate of 400,000 pounds before commission and sold for 468,000 pounds with commission. Immendorff's "Sonnentor (Sun Gate)," a 1994 oil painting, had a top estimate of 250,000 pounds. It missed its low estimate even after adding commission, taking 144,000 pounds.

New York-based Phillips wrested the Saatchi consignment from its larger rivals, Sotheby's and Christie's International. Saatchi's gallery will continue to sell art through Phillips "as and when we are making changes to the collection," said spokeswoman Fallon before the sale.

In July, Phillips said it would pay Saatchi's new museum "a few years" of visitors' admission fees, to gain a presence on Saatchi's Internet gallery. Saatchi expects his museum to get "up to 1 million visitors" annually when the building in Chelsea opens early next year, said spokeswoman Fallon.

Phillips's four sales yesterday totaled about 42 million pounds, including commissions, compared with a pre-sale estimate of 26.8 million pounds to 38.3 million pounds before commissions. Sotheby's evening sale on Friday took in 34.9 million pounds with commissions, compared with a top estimate of 40.4 million pounds before commissions.

Tags：Sells   German   Charles   Saatchi   Chinese