The birth of the astronomical price: An ethnographic study of value and price in the Beijing art market

This ethnographic study examines the genesis of the astronomical price—known as tianjia —within the Beijing art market and aims to contribute empirically to anthropological debates on the value of art. Focusing on the dynamic interplay between abstract value and monetary price through the lens of practice, it traces how astronomical prices emerge through the coordinated labor of valuation, the discursive and embodied practices of auctioneers and bidders, and the ritual intensification of the auction event itself. By examining the concrete labor involved in the construction of value and the competitive escalation of bids at auction, the study argues that modern auctions are not merely sites where an object's value is formed and its ownership is transferred, but also ritualized stages on which archaic cosmology and modern calculative knowledge are brought into convergence through interpersonal interactions on the auction floor. It is through this convergence, the article suggests, that a form of collective effervescence is generated and astronomical prices come into being.