Global art sales plunged in 2016 as the number of high-value works sold dropped by half, while China regained its status as the world`s top market, Artprice said in an annual report released Monday. Art auctions worldwide totalled $12.5 billion (11.8 billion euros) last year, down 22 percent from $16.1 billion in 2015, it said. The world`s biggest database for art prices and sales, working with Chinese partner Artron, attributed the drop to a plunge in the number of works worth more than $10 million each -- from 160 in 2015 to 80 last year. `On all continents sellers are choosing a policy of `wait-and-see`,` Artprice CEO Thierry Ehrmann said. Top-dollar auctions last year included that of an Impressionist painting of a haystack by Claude Monet, `Meule`, which went for $81.4 million and a Peter Paul Rubens masterpiece, `Lot and his Daughters`, sold for $58.1 million, both at Christie`s.
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