The United States remains the company's primary market, accounting for just over $1.9bn of sales, with the UK second at $1.5bn. Continental Europe yielded $527m, while Asia – largely Hong Kong-based sales – totalled $959m.

The company's biggest grossing sale of the year was the $315.8m Contemporary art evening sale in New York on November 9, followed by the $199.8m Impressionist and Modern art evening sale that took place, also in New York, a week earlier. Together they account for 10.5% of the entire year's sales total.

Dedicated Contemporary art sales, as a whole, brought in around $860m-870m, while those focusing on Impressionist and Modern art totalled around $1.48bn. Neither of these figures, nor those for other specific disciplines, take into account additional material that may have formed part of mixed sales or single-owner collections.

Of the other leading disciplines, jewellery made around $380m, Old Masters – paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture – around $150m, Asian art around $165m and antiquities close to $50m.

The importance of Chinese paintings and works of art was clearly underlined by a total of more than $650m.

By Ivan Macquisten