Only a week after a British survey said China had become the world's second-largest art market (just after the United States), Artprice, the world leader in art market information, said on March 21 that the country is now the number 1 in terms of fine art auction revenues.

"This unprecedented news represents a turning point in the history of the global art market," said Thierry Ehrmann, founder and CEO of Artprice.

It took just three years for China to jump from third place (previously occupied by France) in 2007 to first place in 2010, ahead of the UK and the USA, the grand masters of the market since the 1950s, according to the website.

China accounted for 33 percent of the world's fine art (paintings, installations, sculptures, drawings, photography, prints) sales in 2010, versus 30 percent in the USA, 19 percent in the UK and 5 percent in France, according to Artprice's statistics.

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Moreover, there were four Chinese artists in the Top 10 ranking of global artists according to auction revenue for 2010 (up from one in 2009), the lowest of whom generated $112 million that year. Artprice attributed this to China's economic strength, government support for the art sector and investors' patriotism. In addition, the increase in the number of Chinese billionaires also caused a surge in auction records.

Barely a week ago, a survey conducted by the British Art Market Federation concluded that China had overtaken the United Kingdom to become the world's second-largest art market, following the United States.

Chinese auction and gallery sales now constitute nearly a quarter of the world's art commerce, at 23 percent, or $8.3 billion, following the United States (at 34 percent) while Britain lags behind at 22 percent, accoding to the British Art Market Federation.

It also said the Chinese market is dominated by traditional and imperial-era art, though categories like fine wine, contemporary art, and even Western art continue to grow.