HONG KONG (REUTERS).- A Hong Kong tycoon paid $16.7 million on Wednesday for a quartet of Chinese cloisonne cranes at a Christie’s sale in Hong Kong that also saw strong prices paid for high-end Chinese ceramics amid a white-hot streak in the market. While parts of Europe have plunged into a debt crisis and the U.S. economy remains stagnant, China’s antique-loving millionaires are splashing out on rare Chinese antiques and ceramics, driven by cultural patriotism and potential investment returns. At Christie’s Asian sales in Hong Kong, considered a barometer for the Chinese and Asian art markets in the world’s third largest art auction hub after New York and London, demand was again strong for Chinese works from three major Western collections. The four enamel cranes, part of a trove of Chinese treasures had been cloistered for decades in the late Alfred Morrison’s Fonthill estate in the western English county of Wiltshire. C