Wynn pays $12.8 million for Chinese vases
You say vases.
Steve Wynn says vaaaaases. $12.8 million vaaaaases, that is.
Wynn, chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd., paid $12.8 million (8 million pounds) at a London auction for a set of four 18th century Chinese porcelain vases that will be displayed in his new resort in Macau.
The 4-foot vases were the most expensive of 50 lots at Christie's International's "Exceptional" sale on Thursday. The vases will decorate his new Cotai Resort Hotel, which is scheduled to open in 2015.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. says the price is more than double the world auction record for similar artifacts.
"We are delighted to be able to return these extraordinary examples of Chinese culture to ... China, and place them on display in the city of Macau, which we are so fortunate to be a part of," Wynn said.
In a statement issued Friday, the Las Vegas-based company described the vases, painted with Buddhist and Taoist emblems, as distinctive in scale, quality and number with match pairs being rare and match quartets of this age and size never seen.
"The only know similar examples are in the collection of the British Royal Family," the company said.
The vases date from the late 1700s to early 1800s. Wynn Resorts says the price is more than double the world auction record for similar artifacts.
Wynn was also the buyer of a Chinoiserie tapestry for $271,168.03 (169,250 pounds).
In 2006, Wynn spent a record
$10.1 million at a Christie's auction in Hong Kong to acquire a rare, underglaze copper-red Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) vase. The pear-shaped vase is decorated with a peony scroll.
Wynn brought fine art to the Strip when he opened Bellagio in 1998 with a gallery that showcased his collection. He also included a gallery at Wynn Las Vegas when he opened the casino in 2005 that featured masterpieces from his collection, which includes works by Vermeer, Picasso, Cézanne and Manet. But he closed the gallery within a few months of its opening to make room for a retail store.
In 2009, The New York Times reported that Wynn spent $33.2 million on Rembrandt's "Portrait of a Man, Half-Length, With His Arms Akimbo" at a Christie's auction in London.
Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at
csieroty@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
