Christie’s, the auction house, has played down the possible impact of the Chinese economic slowdown and Beijing’s austerity campaign on its first mainland auction, due to take place tomorrow.

“We are in China for the next several hundred years,” said Steven Murphy, chief executive, ahead of the Shanghai auction. The sale will feature 42 works valued at Rmb100m ($16m), including international artists such as Picasso and Andy Warhol, plus several works of contemporary Chinese art, fine wines and vintage watches.

“The slight tempering of Chinese [economic] growth may affect the immediate auction but it will not affect the strategy; at Christie’s we take a long view,” Mr Murphy said. Even if China’s growth had slowed, “anyone else would be envious of this level of cooling”, he added.