SPOTLIGHT by Asian Art in London | Issue #3 | October 2021

ASIAN ART IN LONDON | ISSUE 3 | OCTOBER 2021

SPOTLIGHT by Asian Art in London

21

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Introduction 6 - 13 Collectors, Curators, Connoisseurs: A Century of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1921-2021 An essay written for Spotlight by Sarah Wong 32 - 33 Aktis Gallery 44 - 45 Raquelle Azran Vietnamese Fine Art 14 - 15 Rob Dean Art 34 - 35 Eskenazi Limited 36 - 37 John Eskenazi Ltd. 30 - 31 Peter Finer 54 - 55 Michael Goedhuis 28 - 29 Grosvenor Gallery 40 - 41 Hanga Ten 55-56 Jonathan Hope 52 - 53 Kevin Page Oriental Art 46 - 47 J.A.N. Fine Art 48 - 49 Lam’s Gallery 56 - 57 Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art 24 - 25 Marcel Nies Oriental Art 42 - 43 Marchant 38 - 39 Martindale Chinese Art

58 - 59 Mayor Gallery 16 - 17 Galerie Mingei 53-54 Sue Ollemans 18 - 19 Simon Pilling 50 - 51 Priestley & Ferraro 57 - 58 S.A. Fine Art 50 - 52 Shahnaz Gallery 22 - 23 Shapero Rare Books 20 - 21 Susan Page Chinese Snuff Bottles 60 - 61 Jacqueline Simcox Ltd. 26 - 27 Runjeet Singh

Auction Houses

90 - 91 Adam’s Auctioneers and Valuers 63 - 64 Bonham’s 59-60 Chiswick Auctions 67-68 Dore & Rees 65-66 Duke’s Auctioneers 69-70 Lyon & Turnbull 75-76 Nagel Auktionen GMBH 71 - 72 Roseberys 61 - 62 Sotheby’s 73-74 Sworder’s Fine Art Auctioneers

The description and attribution of pieces advertised are the sole responsibility of participants.

SPOTLIGHT | ISSUE #3 | OCTOBER 2021 The year 2021 might be remembered for a number of things that we might prefer to forget, but here in London, home of the Oriental Ceramic Society, we are proud to be celebrating something that will be long remembered, the centenary year of that august body.

We join them in appreciating the surprisingly influential grouping of collectors over the years, a large majority of whom have been based in, or close to, London. In this, our third issue, we are delighted to host a short essay by the Curator of the superlative exhibition now on show at the Brunei Gallery of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Sarah Wong. A number of you, reading this issue, might be members of the OCS in which case, may we congratulate you and the society on achieving this remarkable milestone.

Our third issue coincides with the opening of Asian Art in London ’21, our 24th iteration of the annual series of celebratory events, gallery and dealer exhibitions and auction house presentation of sales in the field. We are pleased to note that the number of participants has grown since our last issue and we now present an increased 55 works from 28 galleries and dealers that are for sale on application to those concerned.

However, the event also hosts a significant number of auctions presented by our 10 auction house partners and so in this issue we include an additional section in which each presents two highlights that will be available for sale by auction at the relevant auction sale.

Get in ahead of the crowds by buying pieces now, or simply prepare yourself for a feast of Asian Art, here in London over the next two weeks.

Henry Howard-Sneyd, Chair of Asian Art in London

SPOTLIGHT SUBSCRIPTION Sign up to the Asian Art in London mailing list to receive future issues of Spotlight directly to your inbox.

Collectors, Curators, Connoisseurs:

A Century of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1921-2021

An essay written for Spotlight by Sarah Wong

Reaching a centenary is pivotal moment in the life of an organisation. For the Oriental Ceramic Society (OCS), established in 1921 in the drawing room of the collector, S. D. Winkworth (d. 1938), this is a moment to look back, to reflect on key historical events and figures, on achievements, as well as the time to look towards the future. This centenary exhibition celebrates the story of the Society, the central role it has played in the field of Asian art in the West and its founder and key early members through a carefully chosen selection of over 100 objects borrowed from UK museums and from private members’ collections. The exhibition examines the growth of the OCS from a ‘coterie’ of like-minded collectors and curators, gathering after dinner in their homes to discuss ‘specimens’ to the international, highprofile organisation it is today, with its extensive programme of lectures, handling sessions, field trips and regular publications and exhibitions.

Fig 3. Interior of 7 Chelsea Embankment. George Eumorfopoulos had special rooms to display his collection

This centenary exhibition encompasses a range of material, not just ceramics, though these make up a large proportion. Bronze, jade, lacquer, glass, painting and sculpture are also included, the loans chosen specifically by the Exhibition Committee to reflect the diversity of areas studied and collected by OCS members over the century. Although most of the material is from China, there are also examples from Korea, Japan and the Middle East. The exhibition is divided broadly into five sections with the first four focussing on the history of the Society, its achievements and some of its historically significant members while the fifth section features loans from current members. This article cannot do justice to the range and quality of material in the exhibition but it is hoped that it will provide a sense of what is on view and encourage readers to visit it.

Fig 5. Stone-paste bowl, attributed to the potter Abu Zayd, Mina’i ware dated Beginning of Muharram 583/ March 1187 CE, Kashan, Iran © The Trustees of the British Museum

Fig 11. Underglaze blue porcelain bowl, Edo period, 1670s-90s Nangawara kilns, Arita, Japan

Section I looks at the establishment of the Society on 31 January 1921 and its founder members, who were, for the most part, important collectors and highly regarded museum curators and also included prominent scientists. All the objects in this section have a particular connection with the founder and early members, and were either owned, exhibited or published by them. The objects here are also unified by theme. Most are Song dynasty (960-1279) ceramics, long regarded as classic wares in China, but newly appreciated and sought after by early OCS members and Western collectors of the 1910s and 1920s, who until then had been more familiar with export and Ming and Qing palace porcelains.

The Northern Song bright green-glazed stoneware meiping vessel from the non-imperial Cizhou kilns (Guantai, Handan, Hebei province) carved with large scrolling peonies is one of the stars of this section, on loan from the British Museum (fig. 1). It belonged to a figure who was hugely significant in OCS history, George Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939), the Greek trader on the Baltic Exchange, prolific collector and founding President of the Society who was its ‘life and soul but also the guiding hand’ (fig. 2). The museum built onto his house in 7 Chelsea Embankment showcased his significant collection of Chinese art (fig. 3), which he revelled in sharing: ‘the specimens were no mere possessions bought at a price, but a delight to be shared with others.’ In 1934, as a result of the Depression, Eumorfopoulos sold a great part of his collection to the British Museum and the V&A at preferential rates. Another founder member was Oscar Raphael (1874-1941) (fig. 4), who was both a collector and an amateur dealer, perhaps an example of an early member who was a ‘connoisseur dealer’. This section includes two objects which belonged to him, one a Song dynasty stoneware brown-black-glazed ‘leaf’ bowl now in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum and the other is a stone-paste bowl from Iran dating to 1187 with a remarkable narrative scene, now in the British Museum (fig. 5) – a testament to the broad ranging interests that defined these early members.

Fig 2. George Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939) Fig 4. Oscar Raphael (1874-1941) © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Fig 6. Pair of carved red lacquer elephants, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, 18th century

Section II of the exhibition covers the expansion of the OCS in the 1930s from its status as a private society to a public organisation open to all, with its membership expanding from twelve to over 100. A key event during this period was the 1935-1936 International Exhibition of Chinese Art at the Royal Academy of Art. Though it was not an OCS exhibition as such, several OCS members were central to its conception and organisation; these were Neill Malcolm (1869-1953), Sir Percival David (1892-1964), George Eumorfopoulos, R. L. Hobson (1873-1941), Oscar Raphael. David is often credited with the idea of the exhibition and the latter four also undertook the arduous job of travelling to China, Japan and the USA to secure loans. OCS members were also able to provide the exhibition with extensive loans from their own collections – around 40% - with Percival David alone lending over 300 objects. This section represents the OCS involvement in the 1935-1936 exhibition and some objects here were Ient by early members to the original exhibition. A wide range of material has been deliberately chosen to reflect the breadth of the original exhibition – such as bronze, earthenware, porcelain, painting, cloisonné, jade, glass and lacquer; an example of the latter is the charming pair of eighteencentury carved red lacquer elephants and their mahouts (fig. 6), lent to the 1935-1936 exhibition by Queen Mary (1867-1935), the consort of George V, a keen collector in her own right and Patroness of the OCS from 1937 to 1953.

Section III highlights the different philanthropic and institutional legacies of the OCS through three of its illustrious past members and some objects associated with their collecting history.

Sir Percival David was an outstanding collector whose lifelong commitment to learning and education was realised when his ceramics collection was housed at 53 Gordon Square by the University of London; in 2009 the collection was moved to a purposebuilt gallery at the BM. Loans from the Sir Percival David Collection include the Yongle blue and white porcelain moon flask with a dense pattern of geometric and floral decoration and a blue and white porcelain incense

Fig 10. Underglaze blue painted porcelain jar, guan Ming dynasty, late 15th century, Jingdezhen kilns

burner decorated with dragons, and inscribed with a date corresponding to 1655, the latter a testament to David’s longstanding interest in collecting objects with inscriptions. Sir Harry Garner (18911977), a friend and contemporary of Sir Percival David, was a distinguished mathematician and government scientist, as well as President of the OCS from 1967 to 1971. His collection was, as with a number of OCS collectors, split between the BM and the V&A, reflecting the close ties between OCS collectors and the two institutions and their curators. A highlight of the exhibition is the Northern Song Ru ware cup stand; Ru wares are amongst the rarest of Chinese imperial wares Fig 7. Ru ware cup stand, Northern Song dynasty, about 1086-1106 because the production of these only Ru kilns, Henan province, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London lasted about twenty years. This is one of two owned by Garner, now in the V&A collection (fig. 7). The other is now in the collection of the British Museum.

The third collector featured is Ferdinand Schiller (1866-1938), the thirteenth member of the OCS. His remarkable collection was given to his brother, Max Schiller (1868-1946) who bequeathed it to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, where it remains today. His collection in this section is represented by a rare Chenghua (1465-1487) marked yellow-glazed porcelain dish and a Guan type celadon-glazed porcelain vase from the Yongzheng period (1723-1735).

Fig 8. Blanc-de-chine porcelain figure of Guanyin, Ming dynasty, first half of 17th century, Dehua kilns

Fig 9. ‘Moon-white’ celadon-glazed stoneware tripod censer Jin dynasty, 1115-1234, Yaozhou kilns, Shaanxi province

Section IV examines the contribution of the Society to the field of East Asian history of art, and to Chinese ceramics in particular. Research, scholarship and connoisseurship were at the heart of OCS activities which included the organisation of exhibitions, lectures, the Chinese Scholar’s Fund, translation schemes and study days, resulting in the UK’s prominent position in the field today. Four areas of recurring interest out of many are examined here; copper-red glazes, early blue and white porcelain, and in particular the collection at the Topkapi Sarayi; Dehua porcelain; jade. The exhibition features objects in each of these areas to represent fields in which some OCS studies came to be key contributions. Among the loans are a Yongle period (1403-1424) underglaze copper-red porcelain stem cup and a rare Yuan blue and white faceted porcelain vase. The Dehua section features the seventeenth century figure of Guanyin, formerly in the collection of founder member Henry Blackwall Harris (1871-1929) (fig. 8).

The fifth and largest section consists of loans from current private and institutional OCS members, balancing the historic overview of the earlier sections. The Exhibition Committee’s brief was to find a range of objects, particularly with a connection to OCS history and its past members. The choice was defined by what was kindly offered by members. The objects are rich in interest and wide-ranging though not all types of wares or kilns or indeed material were able to be represented. There are outstanding examples from the Song and Jin dynasties, reflecting the continued interest in this area for members, for instance the Jin dynasty (1115-1234) ‘moon-white’ celadon-glazed stoneware tripod censer formerly in the Mathias Komor and Geoge de Batz collections (fig. 9). Blue and white porcelain across a number of dynasties is also well represented from the Yuan, seen in the large blue and white porcelain dish painted with a pair of mandarin ducks; to the fifteenth century underglaze blue guan jar painted with the ‘Four Accomplishments’ of the Chinese gentleman scholar (fig. 10). The exhibition is rich in Qing porcelains, from imperial pieces, including a number from the Yongzheng period (19231735) to export wares. There is a section of ceramics from Japan and Korea including the seventeenth century blue and white bowl from the Nangawara kilns, Arita, Japan, painted with a pair of egrets (fig. 11). There is also a selection of private loans in other media, including in bronze, enamelled copper and in organic material, such as the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) bamboo carving of a cat, kitten and a peony bush (fig. 12) and the fourteenth century lacquer dish carved with a scholar, his attendant and the ‘Three Friends of Winter’ (fig. 13) The first four sections of this exhibition provide a window into a century of OCS activities and the central role its members played in shaping the field of East Asian ceramics and works of art in the West. The fifth and final section of the exhibition reflects the current collecting interests of present OCS members against a background of wider global access to markets and to information.

The next century may bring closer ties with Asia, new collecting trends and discoveries but there will also be a continuity with the past as OCS members continue their quest in the twenty-first century to ‘widen appreciation and to acquire knowledge’ of the field, as set out in the original aims of the Society.

Fig 13. Lobed red lacquer dish, Yuan dynasty, 14th century

Fig 12. Carved bamboo cat and kitten, Qing dynasty, 1644-1911

Collectors, Curators, Connoisseurs, A Century of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1921-2021, runs at the Brunei Gallery SOAS, University of London from 15 October to - 11 December 2021.

Free timed tickets can be booked on the Brunei Gallery website: https://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/

Fig 11. Green-glazed stoneware meiping, Northern Song dynasty, about 1000-1100, Guantai, Handan, Hebei province © The Trustees of the British Museum

https://www.orientalceramicsociety.org. uk

ROB DEAN ART

1 The Street, Woolpit, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP30 9SA Rob Dean specialises in Indian and South Asian Art and has worked in the field since 1998 . Rob has previously worked as a specialist of Modern and Classical Indian Paintings for both Christie’s and Sotheby’s and now works independently as a gallerist, lecturer, and consultant. In 2011 he co-founded the auction house Pundole’s and has been at the forefront of Modern Indian Art Auctions for over 20 years.

The first painting depicts Raja Shamser Sen of Mandi. The historical accounts of the life of Raja Shamser Sen (r. 1727 – 81) and the numerous supporting paintings produced during his lifetime describe one of the most unusual reigns in the Punjab Hills. Shamsher Sen came increasingly under the influence of his half brother Dhurchatia, and took to what Archer describes as ‘bizarre, lewd, crazy habits, while consorting with low companions.’ (W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, vol.I, Mandi, p. 347.)

Goswamy and Fischer are a little more complimentary stating that Shamsher Sen was ‘deeply religious, whimsical [and] enigmatic’ (Goswamy and Fischer, Pahari Masters Court painters of India, Zurich, 1992, p 200.) However, as J. Losty remarks ‘it is clear that as a ruler he was not greatly interested in governing his kingdom.’

The second painting is an example of an early Ragamala painting from the Mughal court. Such paintings exhibit a complex and variable imagery at different periods throughout the art history of India. The Mughal iconography accords with the majority of representations from Rajasthan and Central India. The current example depicts a prince kneeling in front of his lover with his hands reaching out in apology to touch her feet. The lover turns her head away in rebuke covering her face with her veil. Even though the lady is not clothed in white the iconography suggests that the ragini depicted is Ramakari Ragini.

CONTACT

Rob Dean Phone: +447764942306 Email: rob@robdeanart.com Website: https://www.robdeanart.com

A PORTRAIT OF RAJA SHAMSHER SEN OF MANDI (1727-1781) MANDI, INDIA, c. 1760-1780 Opaque pigments on paper Image 24 x 17.2 cm.

Folio 29 x 22.7 cm.

FEATURED LITERATURE For other portraits depicting Raja Shamsher Sen see, Archer, W.G., Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London and New York, 1973 and Goswamy and Fischer, Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Nothern India, 1992, nos. 80 - 81.

AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES , A PRINCE APPEASES HIS LOVER

MUGHAL, INDIA, c. 1610 - 1630 Opaque pigment on paper with gold Image 14.5 x 10.1 cm.

Folio 34.8 x 25.4 cm.

GALERIE MINGEI

5, Rue Visconti, Paris, 75006, France

Mingei Gallery, located in the antiques district in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, specialises in ancient and contemporary art from Japan, and particularly in Japanese bamboo baskets as a pioneer and leader in Europe.

The gallery works with museums and institutions and periodically organises thematic artist exhibitions with catalogues. The Mingei Gallery is managed by Philippe Boudin and his daughter Zoé Niang.

Stirrups Signature: kashu kanazawa-ju tomoshige no saku Made by Tomoshige who leaves in Kanazawa in the stronghold of Kashu (Kaga) Tuji Tomoshige was known during years 1620-40 to make niello.

Stationary box with a Koto-yaki inkstone and a copper water dropper Box, “Made by OGAWA Ritsuō” but we are sure it is only an attribution.

This piece is a stationary box with a motif of autumn night. The maker used a round-shaped lead depicting a full moon; iron material to express the maple branch, and the lust of the iron causes the effect the old tree.

The leaves of maple were made with red and gold lacquer, mother of pearl, and glass fragments. On the backside of the cover, a stick and hat were depicted with maple leaves. The composition the maple leaves on the moon is extremely beautiful.

The ink ceramic gourd-shaped is Koto-yaki, which is extremely rare to find these days (see below). The water dropper is in copper. Despite the lacquer consistence of the board for these stationary and the backside of the cover are same, and the stamp of Haritsu on the backside of the cover, this stationary is not original but a work done in the style of Ogawa Haritsu in tribute to this artist.

Koto wares (Koto-yaki) were ceramic products made in and around Hikone Castle of Ominokuni (Shiga Prefecture). The first kiln is said to have been the Kinuya kiln (in the castle town of Hikone), which started operation around 1829. In 1842 it fell under the protection of the Hikone clan as a clan-operated kiln and its size was expanded and techniques were improved. The aim was to produce high-class ceramic products. It was Ii Naosuke, the 13th lord of the Hikone clan, who was the most eager to produce ceramics. (More about the Ii clan can be found by doing a web search for Hikone on Google.) He invited potters from all over Japan and summoned painters such as Kosai and Meiho from Kyoto, thus trying to improve the wares. However, Ii was killed by assassins outside of the Sakurada Gate in 1860, and thereafter Koto wares lost the protection of the clan. It then turned into a privately owned kiln, known as the Yamaguchi kiln, and continued in operation until 1895. Many superior works were made, such as Aka-e kinsai, blue and white porcelain, and a wide variety of other wares such as celadon, and copies of Ko-Kutani, Oribe, and Ninsei.

“The Grace and Workmanship of Porcelain: Unfolding Developments in Japan”, exhibition catalog from the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum and the Seto Folk Museum, 1998. Today Koto wares are highly valued and good ones hardly ever come on the market.

OGAWA Haritsu was a lacquer artist, painter (ukiyo-e), and haiku poet. Ritsuō is his other name as artist. He invented his own technique of lacquer, using many kinds of substances like lead, gold, silver, copper, iron, fragments of ceramic, ivory and glass into the wooden piece with maki-e lacquer. His style was called “Haritsu work”, and loved by flashy people of those days. His work influenced the later artists, like Shibata Zeshin. * The old paper inside is an explanation about OGAWA Haritsu, most probably written by ex-owner.

CONTACT

Philippe Boudin Phone: +33609766068 Email: mingei.arts.gallery@gmail.com Website: http://mingei.gallery

Pair of Abumi

Early Edo, 17th century Iron with silver inlay and lacquer 26 (h) x 28,5 x 13,2 cm

Exhibited at “Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro... The Great Masters of Japan - Georges Leskowicz collection “ November 2019 / 22 march 2020 - Hôtel de Caumont Museum (Aix-en-provence)

Suzuribako

After OGAWA Haritsu “Ritsuō” (1663-1747), Edo period, 19th century Wood, lacquer, copper, and Koto-yaki ink stone, 25 x 17.5 x 4.5 (h) cm

SIMON PILLING

PO Box 40062, London, N6 6XB Established in 2005, Simon Pilling offers Japanese works of art. All are sourced directly from Japan and so are fresh to the Western market. A particular focus is on the 20th century – a period of artworks still largely undiscovered in the West – and contemporary works. While carrying pieces in a variety of media – ceramic, metal, wood and graphic – his specialisation is in lacquer, the quintessential, perfect Japanese artform.

This major work of shimmering, iridescence epitomises Okada’s long held empathy for the beauty of natural shell. Thousands of delicate abalone-shell strips have been inlayed onto the simple, curling, drylacquer base. The result is an intensive panel of pure banded colours with a rich palette of greens, pinks and purples. Their rhythm is reinforced by separating bands of black lacquer into which inlays of gold disks are set.

The overall effect is hypnotic – achieved through painstaking traditional craftsmanship to create a work of an entirely contemporary aesthetic.

A celebration of the natural phenomenon of new life created through the unfurling of a spiral. The work uses contrasting highly polished and matt qualities, rejecting overt decoration while providing a conversation between the opposing sides, and maximising the effects of light reflections on pure form. It consists of 2 pieces, which can be joined in a variety of ways, allowing the viewer to choose the path of the conversation to suit their feeling at that time.

CONTACT

Simon Pilling Phone: +447946577303 Email: simon@simonpilling.co.uk Website: http://www.simonpilling.co.uk

Display Tray, 2016

Okada Yuji (Shiho), b.1948 Dry lacquer, mother-of-pearl and gold inlays, 61 x 31 x 6 cm.

PROVENANCE Direct from Artist This work was shown at Creation of Beauty – the 70th Year Anniversary Exhibition of the Kyoto Kogei Association, Museum of Kyoto, 2016

Heaven’s Sculpture, 2021 Azusa Irizawa, b.1983 Dry lacquer 50 x 15 x 43 (h) cm.

PROVENANCE Direct from Artist This work was shown at the 75th Anniversary Exhibition of the Kyoto Kogei Association, Museum of Kyoto, 2021.

SUSAN PAGE - CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES Green Park House, 15 Stratton Street, London, W1J 8LQ

Susan Page worked with Robert Hall, leading snuff bottle dealer for 30 years. During that time, she catalogued and handled some of the finest Collections of Snuff Bottles in the world. Susan set up on her own in 2018 and has enjoyed curating collections and researching and sourcing pieces. Susan is currently on the Board of Directors of The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society.

Snuff bottles make perfect gifts, being small in size and attractive. The subject matter on each piece can also contain rebuses and wishes for the recipients. The first example chosen here would make a great gift for someone about to sit exams, and the second example would be for someone admired for their qualities of humility, fidelity and moral integrity.

CONTACT

Susan Page Phone: +442030360044 Email: susan@snuffbottlepages.com Website: https://snuffbottlepages.com

Porcelain, painted in grey enamels with two crabs Jingdezhen, 1800 - 1880 Porcelain Height: 6 cm

PROVENANCE E. Lloyd Noakes, USA The crab is a pun for ‘harmony’ and a symbol for passing the civil service examinations. Two crabs with a stalk of reeds = ‘may you pass your exams with high honours’.

Glass, the sides carved with bamboo grooves 1780-1850 Glass 6.1 cm

The evergreen bamboo symbolizes humility and fidelity. It exemplifies integrity as it bends in the storm but does not break. It is one of the three Friends of Winter (along with the pine and prunus) and a very important symbol for peace.

SHAPERO RARE BOOKS

106 New Bond Street (1st floor), London, W1S 1DN Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper. Our specialists have over 250 years of experience between them, with particular expertise in fine illustrated books from the 15th to the 20th century, travel & voyages, natural history, literature (including modern first editions), children’s books, guidebooks, Hebraica & Judaica, works of Russian interest, and Islamica & Near Eastern books & manuscripts.

Shapero Rare books have recently broadened their collections of books relating to the Arabic, Ottoman, Persian and Indian worlds with the launch of a new dedicated department headed

by Roxana Kashani. Roxana’s main areas of expertise are manuscripts from the Near East, ranging from early Andalusian Quran leaves of the 10th century to Qajar Persian illuminated codices of the 19th century, and early printing in the Islamic world, including typeset presses in the West and provincial and early lithography in the Middle East and India.

CONTACT

Roxana Kashani Phone: +442074930876 Email: rarebooks@shapero.com Website: https://shapero.com

An Illuminated Ottoman Prayerbook, containing religious teachings in poetic form, copied

by Mir ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Najjati [ISLAMIC PRAYERBOOK] Illuminated manuscript on paper, in Arabic.

16 x 11 cm

Large portrait of a Parsi Governor, ‘Punir Shabab’ of Bombay.

[ANGLO-INDIAN SCHOOL] c. 1860 Gouache on board 60 x 44 cm

MARCEL NIES ORIENTAL ART

Lange Gasthuisstraat 28, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium Based in Antwerp, Marcel Nies opened a gallery specialising in art from Southeast Asia, India and the Himalaya regions in 1994. He has been trading since 1975 and built an internationally recognised expertise in Asian Art. Apart from the annual exhibitions held at the gallery, Marcel Nies Oriental Art has taken part in TEFAF Maastricht for over 30 years. Marcel Nies has supplied works of art to important private collections and museums, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the museum for Ostaziatische Kunst Koln, the Victoria and Albert Museum London, the Rietberg Museum Zurich, the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Asian Art Museum San Francisco, the Barbier-Mueller Museum Dallas, and the Asian Civilization Museum Singapore.

Vasudhara is a popular female bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, who ensures stability and wealth. She is depicted in a royal manner, adorned with abundant jewellery and sitting in lalitasana. The bronze displays typical features of Nepalese Malla bronzes, which are highly regarded given their artistic and technical skill.

CONTACT

Marcel Nies Phone: +3232267455 Email: info@marcelnies.com Website: https://marcelnies.com

Vasudhara

Nepal Early Malla kingdom, 14th century Copper alloy with original gilding and precious stones Height: 17cm

PROVENANCE Collection gallery De Ruimte, The Netherlands, before 1983 Collection Mr. Fons Wyers, The Netherlands, 1984 2008 Collection Mrs. Nellie van Deth, The Netherlands, 2008 - 2016 Collection Mr. and Mrs. J. Kurtz, Belgium, 2016 - 2020 FEATURED LITERATURE E. Nies, Art & Devotion: The Splendour and Worship of Asian Sculpture, (Antwerp: Marcel Nies Oriental Art), p.60-63

RUNJEET SINGH

One Princes Place, Duke St, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6DE (By appointment only) Runjeet Singh is a dealer who specialises in Asian antique arms and armour.

He welcomes visitors by appointment in St. James’s and also to Leamington Spa, a town in rural Warwickshire, approximately 80 miles North of London.

Regarded by many to be a leading specialist, Runjeet currently sits on the board of directors of Asian Art in London and is a member of the BADA (British Antique Dealers Association).

Runjeet enjoys a reputation as a dealer of discerning taste, which has led to close relationships with the most important collectors, museum curators and academics around the world.

Ritual Hook Originally, this iron hook, probably dating from the 17th or 18th century, would have accompanied a rope noose (or pāśa in Sanskrit) to form a Tibetan ritual object used to capture harmful spirits. The ring and main surface of the hook are inlaid with stylised flames in gold and silver, the faceted moulding that attaches them inlaid with four-petalled flowerheads in gold.

A ferrule preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession Number 1999.256a, b) and also dating to the 17th-18th century is remarkably similar in both construction and decoration, and helps to contextualise the present piece.

Ladakh Robe/Buddhist Robe Polychromatic Buddhist deities fill the canvas surface of this rare and unusual robe, posing in a variety of stances and grasping saffron-coloured vines, the skirt’s lower hem painted with a scrolling foliate border.

CONTACT

Runjeet Singh Phone: +447866424803 Email: info@runjeetsingh.com Website: http://runjeetsingh.com

Ritual Hook

Tibet 17th -18th century Steel, gold, silver Overall Length: 120mm (4 ¾ Inches)

Ladakh Robe/Buddhist Robe

Ladakh, Northern India c. 1900 Overall Length: 1520mm (60 Inches)

GROSVENOR GALLERY

35 Bury Street, London, SW1Y 6AY Grosvenor Gallery was founded in 1960 by the sociologist and writer Eric Estorick who began to collect works of art when he came to live in England after the Second World War. Its first premises was on Davies Street and it was the largest and best equipped gallery in England at the time. The Gallery showed important European artist of the time – some for the first time in London such as Magritte, Picasso, Sironi and Chagall.

In 2006, the Gallery shifted its focus to specialize in South Asian Modern and Contemporary art especially the works of mid 20th century Indian modernist such as the Bombay progressives, as well as Chughtai, Gulgee and Sadequain from Pakistan. The contemporary program includes exhibitions of work by Rasheed Araeen, Faiza Butt, Olivia Fraser, Senaka Senanayake and Dhruva Mistry amongst others.

Senaka Senanayake (b 1951) achieved early fame as a child prodigy, whose work was first exhibited in Colombo in the late 1950s. Since his first international one man show in New York at the age of ten he has exhibited throughout Europe, the USA and Asia, establishing himself as one of the region’s most important living artists.

His recent work is inspired by the plight of the Sri Lankan rainforests, many of which have been subject to intense deforestation to make way for teaplantations. Senaka comments; “My main focus is on the endangered flora and fauna in our rainforests. In 2005 I visited a rainforest in Sri Lanka, which had become my muse for many of my shows. I could have shown the negative aspects of destruction, such as people and animals dying, but I try to do happy, positive paintings.”

We will be showing new works by Senaka Senanayake during both weeks of Asian Art in London 2021.

CONTACT

Conor Macklin, Charles Moore and Kajoli Khanna Phone: +442074847979 Email: art@grosvenorgallery.com Website: http://grosvenorgallery.com

Heliconias, 2018

Senaka Senanayake Oil on Canvas 119.4 x 152.4 cm

Lotus Butterflies, 2018 Senaka Senanayake Oil on Canvas 106.7 x 106.7 cm

PETER FINER

38-39 Duke Street St James’s, London, SWIY 6DF PETER FINER was established in 1967.

Today we are specialists in antique Arms and Armour from cultures worldwide, Bronze Age to the 19th century, with a London gallery on the historic Duke Street, St James’s. With a hard-earned reputation for handling the rarest and highest-quality pieces of antique Arms and Armour, we help to build superb private and institutional collections.

Both pieces feature in our current exhibition: ‘Mythical Beasts and Worldly Creatures’ The exhibition has a fully illustrated accompanying catalogue, and brings together a culturally diverse and exciting group of rare and outstanding purposeful works of art, unified by their imaginative decoration of mythical, legendary and ‘real’ animals. They reveal the age old influence of the animal kingdom on the work of artists and craftsman over the millennia, and overtly demonstrate that arms and armour can have a wide appeal to anyone interested in fine artistry. The works Asia, date from the seventh century to the late 19th century.

CONTACT

Redmond Finer Phone: +442078395666 Email: gallery@peterfiner.com Website: https://www.peterfiner.com

A Very Fine Pair of Tibetan Stirrups, 16th -18th century Iron, silver and gold, Height: 15 cm / 5.9 in PROVENANCE Private collection, Belgium

A Rare Ritual Flask, or Yung Zor 18th – 19th century Yak-horn, silver, wood, brass and iron Height: 19.7 cm

PROVENANCE The Collection of Dr Gordon, purchased from Spink and Son, September 1994

AKTIS GALLERY (U.K.) LTD.

50 Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6LX Aktis Gallery specialises in the post-war lyrical abstraction movement, focusing on some of the most influential Chinese émigré artists of the 20th century, such as the internationally renowned Zao Wou-Ki and Chu Teh-Chun as well as the contemporary Paris-based artist Gao Xingjian and the exceptional contemporary sculptor Wang Keping.

“Painting begins where language fails.” – Gao Xingjian Gao, who is the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2000, has had an artistic journey that is as outstanding as it is multidisciplinary. While better known as a playwright and novelist, Gao’s main form of creative self-expression since 2003 has been painting. Today, his works are celebrated among connoisseurs of ink painting and the cultural elite.

“Paint, paint, always paint, always paint the best possible, the empty and the full, the light and the dense, the living and the breathing.”

Discover watercolours by Zao Wou-Ki at Aktis Gallery as part of Asian Art London 2021

CONTACT

Anna Chalova Phone: +442076296531 Email: anna@aktis-gallery.co.uk Website: https://aktis-gallery.co.uk

Composition, 1976

Zao Wou-Ki Ink and Watercolour on Paper 28 x 28.5 cm

PROVENANCE Private collection, Switzerland

Dream House, 1992

Gao Xingjian Ink on paper, 82.5 x 121.5 cm

PROVENANCE AND FEATURED LITERATURE Private Collection, Germany Gao Xingjian, Wandering and Metaphysical Thoughts, Aktis Gallery, London, 2015, no.3

ESKENAZI LIMITED

10 Clifford Street, London, W1S 2LJ Eskenazi Limited is one of the world’s most respected dealers in Chinese art. Over the past 60 years, the company has built a reputation as the leading player in the field, having sold some of the finest works of art seen on the market during this period. The material the gallery handles includes bronze, ceramic, sculpture, lacquer, works of art and contemporary ink painting. The company holds regular themed exhibitions and has placed objects in private collections and in over seventy international institutions.

During AAL 2021, Eskenazi Limited will hold an exhibition of rare works of art from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). This is only the second time the gallery has dedicated an exhibition to the Tang Dynasty that covers a wide range of material including objects in stone, metal, ceramic, silk and lacquer, the first being in 1987.

This rare melon-shaped parcel-gilt silver box and cover is topped with a charming squirrel proffering a bunch of grapes. Grapes and grapevines were popular and probably rather ‘exotic’ motifs used on Tang silver vessels and mirrors.

The floral motifs on this pair of blue ground boxes – specifically the white petals – were produced using a resist technique. The resist was either of wax or powdered kaolin and prevented the glaze from adhering in areas where it was applied.

CONTACT

Daniel Eskenazi Phone: +442074935464 Email: daniel@eskenazi.co.uk Website: https://www.eskenazi.co.uk/

Parcel-gilt Silver Box and Cover

Tang Dynasty, 7th - 8th century Parcel-gilt silver Height: 8 cm

PROVENANCE Walter Hochstadter, New York and Adelaide, (acquired in Shanghai in the 1950s).

FEATURED LITERATURE Christie’s, New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 18 and 19 March 2009, number 528.

Eskenazi Limited, Early Chinese metalwork in gold and silver; works of art of the Ming and Qing dynasties, New York, March 2011, number 7.

Giuseppe Eskenazi in collaboration with Hajni Elias, A Dealer’s Hand, The Chinese Art Market through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, (Chinese edition), Shanghai, 2015, page 354, number 439.

Pair of Sancai-glazed White Earthenware Circular Boxes and Covers Tang Dynasty, 618 – 907 Earthenware Diameter: 5.5cm

SIMILAR EXAMPLES Li Huibing ed., The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelain of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, volume 31, Hong Kong, 1996, page 229, number 210, for a similar box with amberglazed sides.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, volume three (I), London, 2006, page 394, number 1246 for a pair of boxes formerly in the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

JOHN ESKENAZI LTD.

PO Box 55621, London, W9 2XA John Eskenazi is an internationally respected dealer in Indian, Gandharan, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art; he is also a specialist in collectors’ carpets and textiles. In 1997 he was instrumental in co-founding Asian Art in London. John Eskenazi and his wife, Fausta, are available, by appointment only, for consultation and private viewings of select pieces.

John Eskenazi’s diverse selection of sculptures include unusual early Indian works as well as the more familiar Hindu gods. A terracotta fragment of entertaining monsters was once part of an impressive stele depicting the demon Mara’s temptation of the Buddha. The lovely brass image of Ganesha from the Kathmandu Valley is an unusual depiction of one of the most popular Hindu gods, seated beneath the hood of a naga.

CONTACT

John Eskenazi Phone: +442074093001 Email: john.eskenazi@john-eskenazi.com Website: http://www.john-eskenazi.com

The Horde of Mara

Northern India, 5th to 8th century Terracotta Height: 42 cm

Ganesha

Nepal, Kathmandu Valley, 16th/17th century Bronze Height: 34 cm

MARTINDALE CHINESE ART

34 South Molton Street, London, W1K 5RG Martindale Chinese Art was founded in 2018 after William graduated from the Postgraduate Chinese Art course at SOAS. William is a London based dealer specialising in Chinese ceramics and works of art with a particular focus on later Chinese jade carvings.

He is currently in the process of refurbishing a new office and gallery space a stone’s throw from the iconic New Bond Street.

The vases are decorated in over glaze gold gilt on a deep powder blue glaze ground.

The decoration depicting dragons chasing the flaming pearl amongst scrolling clouds above a continual boarder of waves at the foot.

The toad is depicted with a leafy branch of pomegranate fruit, the head nestled up against a branch with its circular beady eye looking forward. Its skin naturalistically carved to resemble the knobbly skin of a toad. To its right side, a smaller toad climbs up its body.

In Chinese art the toad is often used as a symbol of wealth, and pomegranates are a symbol for numerous sons, which when paired together signifies “May you have an abundance of sons and wealth”. The amber of a rich cherry red tone with hints of orange.

CONTACT

William Martindale Phone: +447581228572 Email: info@martindalechineseart.com Website: https://www.martindalechineseart.com

A Pair of Gilt Decorated Powder Blue Ground Dragon Vases Guangxu six character mark and of the period (1875-1908) Over glaze gold gilt on a deep powder blue glaze ground 23.3 cm in height

A Carved Amber Toad Group Qing dynasty, 18th/19th century Amber 7.8 cm in length

PROVENANCE From the collection of Gerard Arnold 1918-2010

HANGA TEN

PO BOX 67812, London, SW7 9BL, (by appointment only) Hanga Ten (in Japanese “Shop of Prints”) is a leading specialist of contemporary Japanese prints. Established over twenty years ago in London, Hanga Ten has been instrumental in introducing the works of master print artists from Japan to a worldwide audience of private and institutional collectors. Hanga Ten represents twenty-five artists and exhibits at major art fairs in the UK up to six times a year.

Frequent visits to Japan ensure strong and long-term relationships with our artists which our international clientele can confidently rely upon.

The persimmon tree with its bright orange “kaki” fruit is a recurring theme in Japanese art not only symbolising the seasonal autumn when the fruit matures but transformation, luck and longevity. The fruit is frequently dried (and therefore “transformed”) and presented in New Year festivities.

Here we are pleased to exhibit two works of art by our contemporary artists which embody the persimmon.

First is a rare 2010 woodcut by Kazuyuki Ohtsu, “Clear Autumn Day”, a typical Japanese country scene with the mature persimmon tree in the front and persimmons drying from the windows of the thatched houses. The artist is one of Japan’s foremost woodblock print artists, having worked for forty years as the assistant of Kiyoshi Saito (1907-1997), a founder of the Japanese sosaku printmaking movement. Ohtsu has developed his own style, and usually travels to the location of his scenes before creating an image. The result is a powerful combination of soft and sometimes vibrant colours, with the four seasons playing a major role in his works.

Next is “Three Persimmons” by Daniel Kelly. The artist uniquely woodblock-prints on course Thai and Nepalese paper to achieve a textural, three-dimensional effect.

Each print in this edition has been printed tens of times in order to perfect the colour gradation from dark to light. The shape of the persimmons is then embossed into the paper.

CONTACT

Chiko Nara Phone: +447788458201 Email: japaneseprints@hangaten.com Website: http://hangaten.com

Clear Autumn Day, 2010

Kazuyuki Ohtsu (b. 1935) Woodcut on washi paper Image size: 38 x 52 cm Sheet size: 45 x 61 cm

PROVENANCE Direct from the artist

FEATURED LITERATURE “Kazuyuki Ohtsu, Sakuhinshu” (Catalogue Raisonée), 2010, published by Gallery Fukurou, page 56.

Three Persimmons, 2015

Daniel Kelly Woodblock, Embossing and Chiné Collé on Thai, Kozo, and Nepalese Paper 32 x 104 cm PROVENANCE Direct from artist

MARCHANT

120 Kensington Church Street, London, W8 4BH

The company was founded in 1925 by Samuel Sydney Marchant and is still family-owned and run, now in the fourth-generation. The specialities are Imperial Chinese Ming and Qing porcelain, jades, cloisonné, pottery and works of art. Emphasis is placed on rarity, quality and provenance.

The Shunzhi qilin dish is an impressive piece. The painting is expressive, with the qilin taking up the majority of the decoration and the colour a luminous deep blue. It has wonderful provenance too.

The design of this saucer is considered to be the better pattern of the two styles of iron-red dragons on a crested wave ground. It would appear that Daoguang examples of this design are rare. This is also a a particularly fine example.

CONTACT

Stuart Marchant Phone: +442072295319 Email: gallery@marchantasianart.com Website: http://marchantasianart.com

Chinese porcelain underglaze blue and white large dish with a qilin Shunzhi/early Kangxi, 1655-1665.

Porcelain, Diameter 34.6 cm

PROVENANCE

Sold by Spink & Son, London.

Sold by Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc., New York, 2001.

From the collection of Jeffrey Stamen, Boston, collection no. 1387. Sold by Sotheby’s New York in their auction of Kangxi, The Jie Rui Tang Collection, Part II, 19th March 2019, lot 312.

FEATURED LITERATURE A similar dish from the Butler family collection is illustrated by Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little in Treasures from an Unknown Reign, Shunzhi Porcelain, 1644-1661, no. 13, pp. 108/9; another in the Gugong is illustrated by Chen Run Min in Shunzhi and Kangxi Underglaze Blue, Beijing, 2005, no. 20, pp. 44/5; another similar dish is published in Chinese Blue and White Porcelain from the Pullan Collection, exhibited by Spink, November 1998, colour plate 37; another in the Ashmolean Museum collection, is illustrated in Eastern Ceramics and Other Works of Art from the Collection of Gerald Reitlinger, no. 98, p. 49.

Chinese Imperial porcelain blue ground iron-red dragon saucer dish Daoguang six-character sealmark in underglaze blue and of the period, 18211850.

Porcelain, Diameter 17.7 cm

PROVENANCE Formerly in the collection of Tang Shaoyi (1862-1938), the first prime minister of the Republic of China, and thence by descent.

FEATURED LITERATURE *A Daoguang example of the second pattern of iron-red dragons on a crested-wave ground was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Nineteen Century Mark and Period Porcelain, 1991, no. 29, p. 34; another is illustrated by Peter Lam in Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983, no. 23, p. 55. *A Qianlong example of this design was included by Marchant in their catalogue of Recent Acquisitions, 2011, no. 39, pp. 80/1, and a pair were included by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of The Edward T. Chow Collection, Part One, Ming and Qing Porcelain, 25th November 1980, lot 124, pp. 124/5.

RAQUELLE AZRAN VIETNAMESE FINE ART 320 East 57th Street New York NY 10022, USA A leading specialist in Vietnamese Fine Art since 1997, Raquelle Azran is an international collector, museum curator and dealer.

Based in Hanoi since 1991, her personal access to Vietnamese artists has enabled over 100 exhibitions - in Asia, Europe and the United States - of the most exciting modern and contemporary Vietnamese paintings.

“I believe that artwork must be experienced viscerally. The conversation between viewer and artwork is a very personal moment, which I am delighted to offer to aficionados of Vietnamese fine art as well as to those for whom the delight of discovery lies ahead.”

Lacquer on wood is a traditional medium of Vietnamese fine art, highlighted by the French founders of the Indochina School of Fine Arts in Hanoi in 1924. Featured here are works by Phung Pham (born 1934) and his much younger colleague Vu Duc Trung (born 1981). The work of both reflects the mixture of East and West which typifies Vietnamese fine art. Pham’s lacquer paintings and woodblock prints - all figurative - emphasize elongated forms and geometric patterns in a very Art Deco vibe. Trung is unique in infusing traditional lacquer technique with an Impressionist sensibility, inviting a close view to marvel at the detail and a second, distanced viewing to appreciate scenes of forests and trees, water and clouds.

CONTACT

Raquelle Azran Phone: +12127150565 Email: raquelle.azran@gmail.com Website: https://www.artnet.com/razran.html

Pounding Rice, 2003 Phung Pham Lacquer on Wood 120 x 80 cm

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist in Hanoi

Worlds of Water, 2012 Vu Duc Trung Lacquer on wood 60 cm sphere

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist in Hanoi

J.A.N. FINE ART

134 Kensington Church Street, London, W8 4BH Established in 1977 and founded by Kikue Shimizu, J.A.N. Fine Art is located on the world renowned “street of antiques”, specialising in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Himalayan and South East Asian ceramics, porcelain, paintings and works of art.

Made for the Japanese market and aptly suited to be used in the Japanese tea ceremony.

This porcelain dish is decorated with the Dutch East India Co. monogram V.O.C (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie).

CONTACT

Adam Shimizu Phone: 07703989724 Email: info@jan-fineart-london.com Website: https://jan-fineart-london.com

A Set Of Five PolychromeEnamelled Blue And White Rectangular Dish

Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China Late Ming Dynasty, Tianqi Period (1620 – 1627) Porcelain 12.5cm x 3.4cm

PROVENANCE Private Japanese Collection

A Rare Japanese ‘V.O.C’ Dutch East India Company Charger Arita Kilns, Japan Edo Period c.1660 Porcelain underglaze blue 36.5cm

PROVENANCE Private Dutch Collection

LAM’S GALLERY

G/F., 70A Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong 3C, Yally Industrial Building, 6 Yip Fat Street, Wang Chuk Hang, Hong Kong

Lam’s Galley is one of the world’s most trusted Chinese art dealers based in Hong Kong, with a big, newly refurbished exhibition space opening in Fall 2021.

Founded in 1988 by Mrs Lam Chan Mei Lam (Mama Lam), the gallery is now run by the second generation Bobo Lam and Midco Lam, who have more than 25 years of experience in dealing with finest works of Chinese art spanning 5000 years of history patronised by museums, dealers and long term customers from around the world .

This figure of a tribute bearer is depicted wearing foreign dress, with the open coat with wide lapels, tight sleeves and foreign boots, which were imported into China through the Silk Road.

In Chinese belief, the box embraces blessings of happiness, union, harmony and wish fulfillment. During Tang Dynasty they were made for ladies to contain incense cake (perfume) and cosmetic powder.

CONTACT

Midco Lam/Bobo Lam Phone: +85294740066 Email: midcolam.art@gmail.com

A Sancai Pottery Figure Holding a Box Tang Dynasty, AD 618-907 Glazed Pottery Height: 33 cm

PROVENANCE A private Hong Kong Collection T.K. Oriental Art, New York Similar examples can be seen in Stanley Herzman Collection, Metropolitan Museum, and Meiyangtang Collection

A Sancai Glazed Circular Box and Cover Tang Dynasty, AD 618-907 Glazed Pottery 10 cm

PROVENANCE A private Asian Collection A similar example can been seen in Metropolitan Museum, and British Museum

PRIESTLEY & FERRARO

3 Bury Street, St James’s, London, SW1Y 6AB Priestley & Ferraro specialises in early Chinese art, with a focus on the ceramics of the Song dynasty and the periods immediately before and after. This was an exceptional time in the history of Chinese – and world – ceramics. Innovation was matched only by the perfection of technique, resulting in the proliferation of kilns all over China, each dedicated to a range of beautiful and characteristic wares. It is in this rich and rewarding field that we aim to find the finest pieces for the collector.

Although our primary emphasis is on ceramics, we enjoy dealing in many categories of earlier Chinese works of art, including lacquer, both carved and undecorated, jades and cloisonné enamels, and from the pre-Song period, Han and Tang dynasty pottery animals and figures and Buddhist stone carving.

The business was established in 1994 by David Priestley and Benedicta Ferraro. David studied Song dynasty ceramics under Mary Tregear at Oxford, before joining Sotheby’s in London where he worked as an expert in the Chinese Department. In 2002 Priestley & Ferraro was joined by Alice Williamson, also formerly of Sotheby’s and a graduate of SOAS. Priestley & Ferraro is a member of the British Antique Dealers Association (BADA).

Jade ewers like the present example represent the pinnacle of the style of carving known as cu da ming, translatable, approximately, as ‘the untramelled and substantial Ming style’. Carvings in this style are noted for the strength and boldness of their designs, emphasizing the character of the stone, and using its flaws, uninterested in the “quality” of the stone as understood by Qing carvers. They were for use, not decoration, and in the present case we can readily imagine a servant pouring yellow wine from this ewer into jade cups for a convivial gathering of late Ming scholars.

Mock doors like the present example were carved in the form of end panels of sarcophagi, but set into the tomb wall. That they are not end panels detached from large sarcophagi is evident from their integral nature: sarcophagus end panels are divided between the tympanum and the door itself, corresponding to the gap between cover and base. Their function has not been elucidated in detail, but to judge from the symbolism of lively dancers, lotus blossom and mandarin ducks on the present example, they were intended as doorways to a paradise of joy and the continuation of connubial bliss.

CONTACT

David Priestley, Alice Williamson Phone: +442079306228 Email: gallery@priestleyandferraro.com Website: http://www.priestleyandferraro.com

A light celadon jade lotus petal and poem ewer and cover Ming dynasty (1368-1644) Jade, Width: 21 cm

PROVENANCE Christie’s South Kensington, 15th May 2015, lot 644 Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland No two cu da ming style ewers share all details of the design, but one that comes close to the present example is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, having the same general proportions, the tall lappets and the lotus leaf cover, but with mandarin ducks on the knop. It is illustrated in 中國玉 器全集 5 隋·唐—明 “The Complete Works of Chinese Jade 5 Sui·Tang-Ming”, p. 203.

A rare carved limestone mock door Tang Dynasty (618-906) Stone Height: 52.1cm

PROVENANCE Sotheby’s New York, 17th September 2003, lot 19, New York private collection For a mock door of larger size but similar composition, with semicircular tympanum and two-leaf door, and carved in the same style, see the example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 20.89; and for another related mock door in the Field Museum, Chicago, accession number 1114, see Osvald Siren, Chinese Sculpture, no.436.

KEVIN PAGE ORIENTAL ART 7 Pierrepont Row, London, N1 8EE

Established for over half a century, Kevin Page Oriental Art is one of the most trusted and respected names in Oriental Art. With one of Europe’s leading collections of Japanese Meiji-era (1868 – 1912) Fine Art and Antiques, our Islington galleries also house a broad collection of fine Chinese porcelain ranging from Ming dynasty through to early 20th Century.

From our “Masters of the Meiji-era” collection, two specially selected pieces showcasing late 19th Century Japanese master craftsmanship: A fine Iron Censer with intricate damascene foliage decoration surrounding two Bronze panels with Bronze, Silver, Shakudo and Shibuichi decoration of an egret and a Kingfisher. A lifelike silver mouse forms the knop of the lid.

An exquisite pair of Cloisonné vases, decorated with large butterflies on an ink blue ground. The neck and foot of the vase decorated with complex floral and geometric designs inspired by the butterflies’ wings.

CONTACT

Kevin Page Phone: +442072268558 Email: info@kevinpage.co.uk Website: https://kevinpage.co.uk

A fine Japanese Meiji Period Iron Censer Onesuka Isshu c. 1880 Iron, Gold Height: 17 cm

A pair of Japanese Meiji Period Cloisonné vases Unsigned c. 1880 Silver, enamel Height: 28 cm

MICHAEL GOEDHUIS

Flat 3, 61 Cadogan Square, London, SW1X 0HZ Michael Goedhuis has been dealing in Chinese art since the 1980s, after having gained experience in numerous fields within the art world. He initially focused on Chinese later bronzes for which he became worldrenowned before broadening his interest to Chinese contemporary Ink painting.

Michael was one of the first dealers in the West to deal in Chinese contemporary art, building major art investment companies and organising pioneering exhibitions and auctions.

Yao Jui-chung is now internationally recognised as one of the most innovative Chinese artists of his generation. His work runs against the current of much of much of the mainstream avant-garde, in its unabashed delight in producing a visual experience for the viewer that is beautiful as well as intellectually provocative.

Born in 1977 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, Tomoko Kawao is one of the foremost woman calligraphers alive today. She has radically reinterpreted and restructured the classical calligraphic canon in order to respond to the cultural expectations of a new age. And by so doing, she has created a new pictorial language which, while rooted in the past civilisations of both Japan and China, is arresting, completely original and beautiful.

Her latest series, the LOVE series, has been created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the new human concept that took hold: “the fact that we do not see people precisely because we love them.”

CONTACT

Michael Goedhuis Phone: +442078231395 Email: london@michaelgoedhuis.com Website: https://www.michaelgoedhuis.com

Listen to the Waves, 2020

Yao Jui-chung Handmade paper, gold leaf and ink, 77 x 197 cm

LOVE #80 - distance -, 2020

Tomoko Kawao Japanese gasen paper and handmade ink, 69.5 x 134.5 cm

LITTLETON & HENNESSY ASIAN ART 1 Princes Place, Duke Street, St. James’s, London, SW1Y 6DE Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art is an art advisory group specialising in Asian works of art. We hold several exhibitions a year in our London gallery, in the heart of St. James’s. We are also regular exhibitors at various art fairs in the world, including the prestigious European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in New York and Fine Art Asia Hong Kong. We have established numerous world records in the fields of Chinese porcelains, bronzes and paintings.

Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art have either purchased pieces on behalf of or sold pieces to various Institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Museum of Fine Art (Boston, MA), Museum für Lackkunst (Germany) to name but a few. We are proud to say that we have been instrumental in forming some of the finest private collections of Chinese art in the West.

These two works are part of our Asian Art in London exhibition titled ‘New Forms - Song/Yuan’. It focuses on the new and distinct shapes, forms and the often experimental glazes that emerged in the Song and Yuan dynasties and that we now associate with this period. We are proud to present this rare ‘Cizhou’ painted jar (Song/Jin dynasty) from an important Hong Kong collector, previously sold and published by Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art in 2003, and a rare ‘Longquan’ Guan-type censer (Southern Song/Yuan dynasty).

CONTACT

Mark Slaats Phone: +447717825828 Email: mark@littletonandhennessy.com Website: https://www.littletonandhennessy.com

A Cizhou painted globular jar

Northern Song/Jin dynasty, 960-1234 Stoneware 14.6cm high

PROVENANCE Purchased from Oriental Arts UK, March 2003 A private Hong Kong collection FEATURED LITERATURE Oriental Arts UK, Asia Week New York 2003, no. 28, p. 24.

The globular body of this rare jar with everted rim, rising from an unglazed splayed foot. Covered overall with a warm ivory-tinged slip, with dramatic black slippainted leaves, the details crisply incised.

Compare an almost identical jar, formerly in the collections of Wang Yuan, Beijing and Bertram S. Boggis, New York, sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, 1617 October 1958, lot 294.

A Longquan Guan-type censer

Southern Song/Yuan dynasty, 13th/14th century Stoneware 12.5cm diameter

PROVENANCE A private collection in the south of England The censer or flower-pot-stand raised on five cloud-like feet, with five raised bosses on the rim. Overall covered in a thick blueish-green glaze with a fine icelike crackle.

Compare a Ge-type censer or flower pot of identical shape dated to the Yuan dynasty in the Percival David Collection, Museum number PDF A.40.

THE MAYOR GALLERY

21 Cork Street, First Floor, London, W1S 3LZ The first gallery to open in Cork Street in 1925; with nearly 100 years in the art trade, The Mayor Gallery is internationally renowned today for being London’s foremost gallery for exhibiting artists from the Zero and international Concrete movements, particularly 1950s and 60s, and continues to offer works of leading Pop artists as well as Dada, and Surrealism.

The LUO BROTHERS (Luo Wei Dong (b. 1963), Luo Wei Bing (b.

1964), and Luo Wei Guo (b. 1972) began to work together in 1996 whilst living in Beijing.

In the late 1980s the visibility of American Pop art such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jeff Koons in China proved to be a powerful influence on their development of yansu, or “gaudy,” art. Born around the time of the Cultural Revolution, they witnessed the break-neck speed of economic development of China, as well as an increased emphasis on material possessions.

Jiang Dahai (b. 1946 China) is one of the most prominent contemporary Chinese artists. He is renowned for his cloudy all-over paintings in which the illusion of vaporous mists recalls the traditional Chinese landscape. Jiang creates a subtle balance between the emptiness and the openness, the saturation and the void.

CONTACT

Christine Hourde Phone: +447766950550 Email: christine@mayorgallery.com Website: https://www.mayorgallery.com

World Famous Brands Series (Television!), 2007 Luo Brothers Polychromed fibreglass 76 x 48 x 45 cm

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist FEATURED LITERATURE London, The Mayor Gallery, 7 Characters New Art from China, 2 November -14 December 2007

Obscuration, 2014 Jiang Dahai Acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist FEATURED LITERATURE London, The Mayor Gallery, Jiang Dahai: Diffusion, 3 Nov - 16 Dec 2016, ill. in cat. p.25

JACQUELINE SIMCOX LTD.

54 Linton Street, Islington, London, N1 7AS (By appointment only)

Jacqueline Simcox specialises in Chinese and Himalayan silk textiles, including wall hangings, costumes and furnishings made for the Chinese Imperial palaces, the aristocracy and the wealthy.

Additionally, with buddhist textiles and other monastic items and decorative silk textiles for the home market and export textiles made specially for the West.

The set of four panels are embroidered in the southern Chinese Guangdong style with a spacious white silk ground, and illustrate scholars’ objects, antique vessels and flowers, worked in satin stitch and with tinted, painted additions for special effects.

The Buddhist textile is embroidered with skulls, which alternate with flaming jewels or half vajra (thunderbolts) above strings of jewels. The border has a Buddhist prayer written in Tibetan.

CONTACT

Jacqueline Simcox Phone: +447775566388 Email: js@jacquelinesimcox.com Website: http://jacquelinesimcox.com

Four embroidered silk wall hangings Chinese Kangxi 1662 - 1722 Each panel: 198 x 56 cm

PROVENANCE Bought from a German dealer in the 1960’s and in a private Berlin collection thereafter.

FEATURED LITERATURE Three of the panels are identical to examples in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, where a group of eight panels with the collector’s seals of Zhu Qiqian are mounted as scrolls. They were formerly in the Imperial Palace collection of the Forbidden City, Beijing.

See: Embroidery in the Collection of The National Palace Museum, nos. 35-40 illustrated in black and white; nos. 26-27 in colour. Published: Gakken Co., Tokyo 1970.

Detail of an embroidered silk buddhist hanging for a monastery, China for Tibet, 18th/19th century, 16.5 x 173.3 cm

SHAHNAZ GALLERY

101 Kensington Church Street, London, W8 7LN Shahnaz Gallery is a second generation gallery and successor to Bashir Mohamed Ltd. founded in 1980 with its first premises on Old Bond Street, London. Specialising predominantly in Islamic and Asian art, they are globally renowned for rare and important acquisitions. Shahnaz Gallery prides themselves on their reputation for in depth knowledge and expertise in the field.

This is a rare cabinet, the main decoration is of Islamic geometry, both on the front doors and on the side.

The lid lifts for a store area above the drawer, the inner door facings are also of ivory and tortoiseshell. The borders and top of ivory is chased with flowers in the Islamic manner and a manner suggesting Vizagapatam as the place of manufacture. Larger than usual Mughal cabinets, it is also a rare type as no other examples with geometry of this size are known.

The handles of iron, are original to the cabinet, the hinges are of brass with traces of original gilding. The cabinet is on a stand that was later made in Europe, for the cabinet, with European gilded lock fittings.

This illustration is from a copy of the Razmnama (‘Book of War’), a Persian translation of the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Akbar.

This dispersed version, prepared in 1616-17 was for the great bibliophile ‘Abd al-Rahim, Khan-e Khanan, the commander-in-chief of the Mughal armies to which he was appointed in 1584.

The Razmnama is a shortened version of the Mahabharata, telling the story of the rivalry between cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, over the kingdom of Hastinapura in north India.

This illustration depicts Krishna and Arjuna, the third Pandava brother arriving at Hastinapura, seated in the chariot receiving tribute.

CONTACT

Shahnaz Mohamed Phone: +447903022669 Email: info@shahnazgallery.com

An Indian Mughal Cabinet on stand

Perhaps Vizagapatam, late seventeenth/eighteenth century Ivory, wood, tortoiseshell, silver or brass Height: 54 x Width: 69.5 x Depth: 44.5, Stand: Height: 73 cm x Width: 74 cm x Depth: 48 cm

An Illustrated Folio from a Razmnama, Krishna And Arjuna Arrive At Hastinapura By the artist Fazi c. 1616-17 Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper Painting 21 x 21 cm, Folio 22.6 x 22.6 cm

SUE OLLEMANS

8 St James’s Square, London, SW1Y 4JU

We have been involved in selling ancient jewellery from Asia for 40 years.

We endeavour to sell pieces in their original form from China, India, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

We source most of our jewels from old European or American Collections.

We have supplied many major private collections and Museums around the world.

CONTACT

Sue Ollemans Phone: +447775566356 Email: sue@ollemans.com Website: https://www.ollemans.com

A Gold and Amethyst Ring 14th century Gold, Amethyst Size: US9

PROVENANCE Private Collection Hong Kong

A White Sapphire and Ruby Necklace 19th century Gold foiled white sapphires and Rubies 18 cm

PROVENANCE Private Collection Hong Kong

JONATHAN HOPE By appointment only

A specialist in Southeast Asian textiles and ethnographic art, Jonathan Hope has been dealing and collecting since the 1970s. He is a contributing editor of Hali Magazine and has written numerous articles for them on a number of subjects from European silk production in the early 18th century to traditional Javanese batik. He has exhibited at a number of European art fairs, most recently Parcours des Mondes in Paris and his textiles have been displayed in several non-commercial shows including the exhibition ‘Heirlooms’ at the Edinburgh International Festival and ‘Cotton, Global Threads’ at Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery. His clients include several major museums and private collectors both in the UK and elsewhere.

A rattan plaited mat, ‘Daren Ehing’, from the Ot Danum people of West central Borneo. The spectacular composition depicts a gigantic ‘soul ship’ on its journey to the watery underworld, the domain of the dead and realm of the goddess Djata, the penultimate deity in the Dayak cosmos.

The figures with arms raised are ‘wailing souls’ and the central ‘tree of life’ construction depicted in the centre of the deck contains the image of the potent and important ‘martaban’ ceramic jar. At the top right we see a row of suspended gongs which symbolise power and wealth.

The plaitresses of these spectacular pieces were esteemed members of society and apparently it was usual for a mat to be included among their burial goods.

This figure, ‘gundurek’, is from the Kalash people of Chitral province in Pakistan’s North West district and represents a distinguished woman. It is carved from mountain cedar wood with stone or quartz used for the eyes.

We know the gender of the figure from the style of the headdress. The V&A museum has 2 comparable examples of similar size, and the Pitt Rivers in Oxford also has more than 1 example.

CONTACT

Jonathan Hope Phone: +447711961937 Email: jonathan.glenhope@virginmedia.com

‘Daren Ehing’ mat of honour, Early 20th century, Rattan, 101 x 200 cm PROVENANCE: Collection of Jean-Pierre and Colette Ghyssels, Belgium FEAUTURED LITERATURE: For comparable examples see ‘Of Jars and Gongs: two keys to Ot Danum Dayak Cosmology’ by Raymond Corbey, publ. C.Zwartenkot Art Books, Leiden, Chapter IV. Also ‘Kalash: Les derniers infidèles de l’Hindu-Kush’ by Jean Yves Loude, publ. Berger-Levrault 1980.

A Kalash memorial figure

Late 19th or early 20th century Mountain cedar wood, stone eyes 16 x 44 x 13 cm

PROVENANCE Private collection UK FEATURED LITERATURE For comparable examples see ‘Art in Afghanistan: Objects from the Kabul Museum’ by Benjamin Rowland, publ. University of Miami Press, plates 206-214.

S. A. FINE ARTS

54 Purley Avenue, London NW2 1SB S.A. Fine Arts, London was established in 2005 in the UK to promote modern and contemporary art from India and other Asian countries to an European audience. S A Fine Arts has held several exhibitions in London promoting artworks from Masters to Contemporary artists from India at prestigious venues like the V&A Museum (TATVA Show, showcasing Masters of Contemporary Indian Art) and at Royal College of Arts (Emerging India, 54 Emerging artist from India and Santiniketan Show- 55 artists including the founders like Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Benode Bihari Mukherjee to alumni of Santiniketan) The mission of the company is to create a platform in London and other parts of Europe to exhibit both, established and upcoming artists to art lovers and collectors from around the world. To promote art with a purpose - bringing joy to both art lovers and collectors, by expanding the reach art has across generations and communities. We promote a collaborative relationship with our artists, valuing their creative perspective.

Haquiqat aur Haq - Rumi and Shams Tabrizi “The only purpose of worlds existence Is the meeting of two friends Who face God, and turn away from worldly desire” Shams, M628 The relationship of Shams and Rumi was unique. Had they met when Rumi was young, Rumi might have assumed a conventional role of a disciple of Shams. Shams saw his own spirit reflected in Rumi, the most gifted and spiritualized scholar he had ever met. In this painting “Haquiqat aur Haq -Rumi and Shams Tabrizi” with inscriptions of verses, ayat from the Quran Sharif scripted on the vast ochre sand dunes, the swirling dervishes, mules, horses, and Buraq create an ethereal sama, an atmosphere of the union of the finite with infinite, the supremeness of the pure consciousness.

Tree of Life By Seema Kohli My painting “Tree of Life” is inspired by 1st verse, 15th Chapter, Bhagwat Gita in which Krishna explains to Arjuna that life is like a Banyan tree. We create the continuation of our existence by our own actions. These actions are like the roots of the banyan tree, which keep expanding over centuries and just like our karmas keep us entangled in our own births and rebirths. This is also the khel of maya. The journey of a banyan tree is a circular expressing the continuation and cyclic nature of existence. The union of yin and yang, procreation and the positive recycling is also conveyed through this simple majestic element which nature or Prakriti has put forward for us. The tree conveys the importance of saving the environment and a symbol of unity given to humanity crossing over all religions and faiths.

CONTACT

Sangeeta Ahuja Phone: +447985078670 Email: sangeeta.ahuja@safinearts.com

Haquiqat aur Haq - Rumi and Shams Tabrizi, 2021 Seema Kohli Acrylic colours and inks on canvas with 24 carat gold and silver leaf 183 x 153 cm

PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist

Tree of Life, 2021, Seema Kohli

Acrylic colours and inks on canvas with 24 carat gold and silver leaf, 122 x 183 cm PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist

CHISWICK AUCTIONS

1 Colville Road, London, W3 8BL Chiswick Auctions is a leading auction house known for its sales of Islamic & Indian Art, Asian Art and Fine Chinese Paintings. Alongside regular auctions of classical works of art from both fields, we also have specialist sales of modern and contemporary art from both Asia and the Middle East. With a team of dedicated and knowledgeable specialists, this auction house based in West London has delivered exceptional results time and time again.

Eleven Carved Ivory figures of the first Sikh Ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and his court.

Our group of eleven ivory figurines represents a gathering at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780 - 1839), and it is likely to have been produced in Delhi around 1830 - 1840. Our figures share a degree of similarity in terms of style, decorative technique and design with a standing ivory figurine of the first Sikh ruler in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection (IS.60-1998), dating to the same period. A similar court scene made of painted and gilt ivory and representing the Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II listening to singers and musicians was exhibited at the British Library, Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, 9 November 2012 - 2 April 2013, London.

A Fine Chinese Blue and White ‘Liu Bei Jumping the Tan Stream’ Ovoid Jar. The sides painted with a continuous scene depicting Liu Bei on horseback leaping across the Tan Stream as Cai Mao and his retinue of soldiers look on, the shoulder incised with an anhua band beneath a neck with banana leaves.

AUCTION DETAILS

Islamic Art – Property of a European Collector Part II 29/10/2021 – 11.00 AM Islamic & Indian Art 29/10/2021 – 1.00 PM

CONTACT

Fine Chinese Paintings 18/11/2021, 9.00 AM Asian Art I/II 18 and 19/11/2021, 11.00 AM / 9.00 AM

Beatrice Campi Lazarus Halstead Phone: +4420 8896 4683 Phone: +4420 8896 4686 Email: beatrice.campi@chiswickauctions.co.uk Email: lazarus@chiswickauctions.co.uk

Eleven carved ivory figures of the first Sikh ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and his court Delhi, Northern India First half 19th century Ivory and wood The full set 15.5cm x 6.5cm, each figure approx. 5.5cm high ESTIMATE £25,000 - 30,000 PROVENANCE Purchased in a small provincial auction in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, UK, in 2007, previously in a local private collection.

A fine Chinese blue and white ‘Liu Bei jumping the tan stream’ ovoid jar Transitional period, Chongzhen period (1628-1644) Porcelain 24cm high ESTIMATE £20,000 - 30,000

SOTHEBY’S

34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA Founded in 1744, Sotheby’s holds auctions of important collections and examples of Chinese, Japanese, Islamic and Indian & South Asian art in London.

Inspired by a photograph the artist saw of a hunting scene mural in Jilin China, as well as a Japanese ritual in which flowers are used as symbolic arrows, Munakata’s huntsmen paradoxically have no weapon of which to hunt with.

In fact, except for their simple garments, the entirety of the composition is devoid of the man-made. The artist poignantly said of the work that ‘the huntsmen are after flowers, and so, must hunt with the heart.” The dynamic movement of the scene is masterfully arranged without perspective or colour, instead Munakata seemingly creates an ornate black and white tapestry through the balance of both the harmonious and dissonant movement of the horsemen and the animals, flowers and foliage surrounding them.

A rare blue and white ‘dragon and phoenix’ meiping Yuan Dynasty Robustly potted with high broad round shoulders sloping down towards the tapering ovoid body, painted in rich cobalt blue tones, the main register with a wide band enclosing a pair of scrolling dragons chasing flaming pearls to the centre, set between a further decorative band over the shoulder and the foot encircled by upright and pendant lappets

AUCTION DETAILS Japanese Meiji Online Sale 2/10/2021 - 3/11/2021

CONTACT

Alice Garner Phone: +442072936442 Email: alice.garner@sothebys.com

In Praise of Flower Hunting (Hanakari sho)

Munakata Shiko (1903-1975) Showa period, 20th century Woodblock print 130 x 163 cm ESTIMATE £40,000 - 50,000

A rare blue and white ‘dragon and phoenix’ meiping Yuan Dynasty Porcelain Height 40 cm

ESTIMATE £400,000 - 600,000 FEATURED LITERATURE Jean-Paul Desroches, Two Americans in Paris, A Quest for Asian Art, 2016, Paris, no 280.

BONHAMS

101 New Bond Street, London, W1S 1SR

Bonhams have been market leaders in Japanese Art since the department’s first auction in 2007, highlighted by the sale of the Szechenyi Collection, the most successful auction of Japanese art ever held in Europe. Every year, Bonhams has achieved impressive results in the category and often world record prices, particularly for netsuke and inro, ceramics as well as Meiji Period metalwork, lacquer and cloisonné- enamel.

This small incense burner made for the tea ceremony by Namikawa Yasuyuki (lot 188) epitomises the artist’s precise, deft enamelling. Neither landscape nor architecture were a common subject-matter for enamellers, and particularly a depiction of landscape on such a small, challenging and curved surface as seen here posed several problems in miniaturization. Here the leaves, the wall of the building, branches and trees are enhanced by the use of tiny flecks of end-sections of silver wire, to give an effect akin to that of gold kirikane flakes of lacquer. The balance between intricate design and undecorated surfaces, even the colour of the surface is exquisitely judged and the wirework contributes to the vessel’s overall aesthetic impact. Readers with even a slight knowledge of cloisonné – the laborious but meticulous practice of applying wire and enamel to copper cores to create intricate, delicate works of art— consider Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), honoured as an artist-craftsman to the Imperial Household in 1896, an undisputed master of the form.

Rolf, Lord Cunliffe, began collecting Chinese art in London towards the end of the Second World War. Over the next 20 years, he acquired over five hundred Chinese ceramics, jades and bronzes; buying judiciously but regularly from the best dealers in Chinese art dotted around Mayfair and St James in London, including galleries such as Bluett & Sons, John Spark, and Spink & Son. Apart from being extensively published and exhibited, the Cunliffe box is important as it is one of only four published similar cloisonné enamel boxes. Each of these four boxes is similar in form, in size (approx. 12cm diam.), in the lotus scroll decoration around the sides of the box and cover, and in the main decorative motif being a type of auspicious fruit: pomegranates, persimmons, melons and grapes.

Importantly, each of these boxes are doubly marked with an incised Xuande six-character reign mark, once on the underside of the box and again on the interior of the cover.

The Cunliffe box is the only one remaining in a private collection with the other three in public museums and institutions, as follows: from the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing (‘melons’ box); Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (‘persimmons’ box); and Fenton House, National Trust, London (‘grapes’ box). The identical features, combined with the variation of the main decorative design, suggest that the four boxes were made as a set.

AUCTION DETAILS

Tradition Travel Transition: Japanese Art across the Centuries 04/11/2021 - 11:00 AM

CONTACT

Suzannah Yip Phone: +442074688368 Email: suzannah.yip@bonhams.com

Fine Chinese Art 02/11/2021 - 1:00 PM

Asaph Hyman Phone: +442074685888 Email: asaph.hyman@bonhams.com

A cloisonné-enamel squat spherical jar and cover

By Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927) Meiji era (1868-1912) Early 20th century Cloisonné-enamel 10.5 cm high ESTIMATE £15,000 - 20,000

An extremely rare and important cloisonné enamel ‘pomegranates’ circular box and cover

Incised Xuande six-character marks and of the period 12cm (4 3/4in) diam. (2).

ESTIMATE £400,000 - 600,000 PROVENANCE

PUBLISHED, ILLUSTRATED AND EXHIBITED

Provenance: Spink and Son, Ltd., London, purchased by Lord Cunliffe in 1946 Rolf, Lord Cunliffe (1899-1963), Honorary Keeper of the Far Eastern Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (collection no.E2), and thence by descent

Mostra D’Arte Cinese (Exhibition of Chinese Art), Venice, 1954, p.203, no.754 The Arts Council of Great Britain and the Oriental Ceramic Society, The Arts of The Ming Dynasty, 15 November - 14 December 1957, no.300 (published and exhibited) H.Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London and Boston, 1962, pl.23 (published)

DUKE’S

Duke’s, Brewery Square, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1GA Duke’s are one of the UK’s leading auction houses, established in 1823. Duke’s have an outstanding reputation for selling private collections and producing superbly curated catalogues. The sale of the collection of Anthony du Boulay in 2019 was testament to their success.

Duke’s Asian Art Auction on the 25th November includes a number of pieces from important collections including the seminal early twentieth century connoisseur GEORGE EUMORFOPOULUS (1863-1939) and the renowned antiquarian General PITT-RIVERS (1827-1900) Since Rufus Bird LVO joined the Dorset- based auction house from the Royal Collection earlier this year, Duke’s have refined their strategy with greater emphasis on provenance.

The Asian Art Auction on 25th November emphasises the shift in focus and a more rigorous approach to cataloguing.

Highlights of the auction include a spectacular Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze of Tara, from the Qing dynasty, and probably dating from early in the period, which left Russia after the Revolution in 1917, and a magnificent pair of Yongzheng famille rose fishbowls acquired in New York in 1998.

An early Japanese scroll painting originally from the collection of General Pitt- Rivers and a pair of Kangxi biscuit porcelain buffaloes from the EUMORFOPOULUS Collection further highlight the importance of provenance.

AUCTION DETAILS Islamic & Indian Art 29/10/2021 - 1:00 PM

CONTACT

Guy Schwinge Phone: +441305265080 Email: guy.schwinge@dukes-auctions.com

An exceptional Sino-tibetan gilt-bronze Tara Qing Bronze Height: 74cm.

ESTIMATE £30,000 - 50,000 PROVENANCE According to the family this impressive gilt-bronze left Russia after the Revolution and then by descent in the collection of the family in London.

A magnificent pair of Chinese famille rose fish bowls Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period (1723-1735) Porcelain 62 cm. wide (including lion mask); 57 cm. and 58 cm. diameter ESTIMATE £30,000 - 50,000 PROVENANCE Mrs. Maria da Conceição (São) Schlumberger (1929-2007); The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, where acquired by the present owner.

DORE & REES

Auction Salerooms, Vicarage Street, Frome BA11 1PU

Dore & Rees, established in Frome in 1868, has a longstanding and cherished position in Somerset and the South West. Having built up a strong loyal local following offering regular general auctions of antiques, furnishing, works of art and collectables, Dore & Rees has added specialist auctions including Asian Art. The saleroom is now under the leadership of Lee Young, known to many as a BBC Antiques Roadshow expert with a leading position in the field of Asian Art. Leading the way in terms of rarity and size are a Pair of Monumental Polychrome Stucco Bodhisattvas. At the other end of the size scale are a Pair of Chinese Export Rococo Covered Sauce Tureens and Stands which display a fineness of modelling and painted decoration. The Fine Asian Art auction offers a wide variety of bronzes, ceramics, silver, glass, works of art, furniture and more.

AUCTION DETAILS Fine Asian Art 08/11/2021 - 10:30 AM

CONTACT

Lee Young Phone: +441373 462 257 Email: enquiries@doreandrees.com

Rare pair of monumental Bodhisattvas Yuan-Ming dynasty Polychrome painted stucco 146 cm high ESTIMATE £10,000 - 20,000 PROVENANCE Private Somerset Collection FEATURED LITERATURE For a pair of similar figures dated Yuan / Ming see - Christie’s, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 13 - 14 September 2018, lot 1128

Rare pair of Chinese export porcelain rococo covered sauce tureen and stands Qianlong Period, c. 1775, 22.5cm wide ESTIMATE £3,000 - 5,000 FEATURED LITERATURE For a tureen of identical form bearing the Royal Portuguese coat of arms see: Sotheby’s, London, Chinese Art, 12th May 2021, lot 57: See also Christie’s, New York, Chinese Export Art Featuring Property from the Tibor Collection, 7th - 20th Jan 2021, lot 56

LYON & TURNBULL

22 Connaught Street, London Established in Edinburgh in 1826, Lyon & Turnbull is Scotland’s oldest firm of auctioneers holding regular sales of Asian art, notably Chinese.

Our November sale features a number of works from private collections. One of our highlights - a fine large famille rose Magu charger - is from a private Hampshire collection and has been in the family for over four generations.

Another work - a cloisonné enamel plaque - is from a private Scottish collection.

Part of the sale is themed around the ‘Scented Woman’ - featuring works of art related to incense ritual and female life in Chinese society.

AUCTION DETAILS Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art 05/11/2021 - 10:00 AM

CONTACT

Grace Tu Phone: +447467953462 Email: grace.tu@lyonandturnbull.com

Fine large famille rose ‘magu’ charger

Qing dynasty, Yonghzheng period, c. 1730 Ceramics 43.5cm diameter ESTIMATE £5,000 - 8,000 PROVENANCE August II, ‘August the Strong’, Prince-Elector of Saxony (1670-1733), Dresden; Private English collection, Hampshire; the collection has been in the family for over four generations, since the 1920’s.

FEATURED LITERATURE One plate with the same number of the old Dresden inventory (N=183 I, inventory 1779) and almost identical decoration and size is in the Dresden collection. Some other examples with the same inventory number entered the art trade presumably as a result of earlier sales, with examples found in the museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and in the former Collection Ignazio Vok. Two smaller dishes (39cm diameter and 38.8cm) with the same design and inventory number were sold respectively at Christie’s London, 30 April 2015, lot 111 and Sotheby’s New York, 17 March 2021.

Cloisonné enamel rectangular plaque Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century Metalware, 17.2cm x 13.2cm ESTIMATE £1,500 - 2,500 PROVENANCE

Private Scottish collection; property of Anne Bennet (nee Daly) (1926 – 2004), thence by descent.

With a handwritten envelope addressed with “Mr Warner, Fogg Museum, dated to 16 May 1945, “Late Ming” - 15th century”; the envelope included a handwritten letter The current owner, private Scottish collection, is a child of Anne Bennet, who was gifted this plaque from her cousin Barbara Bell Black (1910/5 - 1994) and Robert S. Black (a bequest from Babara’s father Note: a comparable cloisonné enamel plaque of similar size and dated to the Qing Dynasty, 17th-18th with a handwritten letter). Together with an century, was offered in Bonhams New York, on 20 envelope of Register of Probate addressed to Anne Bennet.

Sept 2021, lot 181

ROSEBERYS

70-76 Knights Hill, London, SE27 0JD Roseberys Fine Art Auctioneers is a privately-owned specialist fine art and antiques auction house and valuers located in the heart of South London. The Asian art department features two specialised auctions each year: mainly Chinese ceramics, works of art, textiles and paintings, but also pieces from Japan, the Himalayas and South East Asia. The Islamic & Indian Art department offers metalwork, pottery, manuscripts, glass, decorative arts and paintings, including modern and contemporary paintings, all across three auctions a year.

On offer in the upcoming Islamic, Indian Art & Antiquities sale, taking place on the 26th of October, is a Seljuq bronze incense burner in the form of a bird, a rare 12th century object from Northeast Iran.

On offer in the Asian sale, taking place on the 9th & 10th of November, is a pair of Chinese porcelain ‘medallion’ bowls, each bearing Shendetang Zhi marks, dated to the Daoguang period, circa 1832-1850.

AUCTION DETAILS

Islamic, Indian Art & Antiquities - 26th October Asian Art - 9th & 10th November

CONTACT

Roseberys Client Services Phone: +442087612522 Email: clientservices@roseberys.co.uk

A rare large Seljuq bronze incense burner in the form of a bird Northeast Iran, 12th Century Bronze, 33.2cm. high x 20.4cm. long ESTIMATE £20,000 - 30,000 PROVENANCE Formerly in a private European collection since the early 1970s.

FEATURED LITERATURE This incense burner is related in its form to a smaller one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1972.87). It also fits within the larger lexicon of expressive zoomorphic shapes of medieval Islam most typically used as incense burners. See Christie’s 7 April, 2011 for a Khorassan lamp in the form of a rabbit.

A pair of fine Chinese porcelain yellow-ground famille rose ‘medallion’ bowls, Shendetang Zhi Daoguang period, circa 1831-1850, Porcelain, 11.4cm wide ESTIMATE: £8,000 - 12,000 PROVENANCE: Collection of Robert C. Bruce, and thence by descent.

FEATURED LITERATURE

c.f. A similar bowl was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3330.

CHRISTIE’S

8 King St, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6QT Christie’s has sold Asian and Islamic art since its first auction in 1766. The company continues to sell the finest Asian and Islamic art its sales in London, New York, Hong Kong and Paris.

This dynamic series of six portraits of Ottoman Sultans is based on an original series of 14 portraits painted in Venice in 1579 at the request of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (1506-1579). His request was no ordinary demand for items of fashion or curiosity, but was part of a wider imperial initiative to create a definitive dynastic record of the House of Osman. The present series, dating from circa 1600, is the second largest in existence with the only complete set in the Munich Pinakothek, now displayed in Würzburg. The original series was likely overseen by Veronese, who served as official court painter to Venice in the 1570s.

Doubtless drawing upon a range of sources including a mix of both imaginary portraits and real life likenesses, the paintings exhibit principal characteristics of Veronese’s style – not least his gift for injecting life and individuality to his characters whilst successfully expressing a coherent sense of dynastic continuity.

This charming tile is one of only two known tiles of this design, the other housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The design, reserved against a ‘whipped’ blue ground is particularly well-controlled. The masterful control of the glaze, in particular the red slip, was incredibly difficult to achieve and displays the remarkable skill of our artist. The high quality of the drawing on this tile is further emphasised by the restrained arrangement of flowers purposefully placed to fill the polylobed medallions.

AUCTION DETAILS

Art of the Islamic and Indian worlds including oriental rugs and carpets 28/10/2021 - 11:00 PM

CONTACT

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Phone: +442073892509 Email: batighimoghaddam@christies.com

Six Portraits of Ottoman sultans Venetian school, c. 1600 Oil on Canvas 78 x 64cm (each, framed) ESTIMATE £800,000 - 1,200,000 PROVENANCE By repute, Graf Adelmann, Schloß Berg, Landshut, by descent to Count Gustav Adelmann v. Adelmannsfelden (1858-1938).

Sold at auction as part of the contents of the castle in 1935

An Iznik pottery border tile c. 1570-80, Pottery, 25.5 x 13cm

ESTIMATE £15,000 - 20,000

PROVENANCE Tabbagh Art Galleries, Paris, until 1936 Private Collection, Paris, sold Ader-Picard-Tajan, Paris, 16 November 1987, lot 96 Sotheby’s Paris, 22 October 2015, Lot 92

SWORDERS FINE ART AUCTIONEERS 15 Cecil Court, London, WC2N 4EZ

Founded in 1782, and a member of the Asian Art in London initiative since 2019, Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers is among the regional UK leaders in the market for Chinese and Japanese works of art.

Headquartered in Stansted Mountfitchet, and now also with a gallery in London’s West End, the firm hosts two specialist sales of Asian art each year - these welcome a broad base of international buyers and sellers who appreciate Sworders’ specialist expertise, use of advanced technology, and innovative marketing strategies.

Among the items included for sale at Sworders this November is this Qing Bianhu or moon flask, carved from a piece of grey-white nephrite, assuming the colour sometimes known as ‘mutton fat’ jade. Chinese collecting taste places a premium on jades fashioned in the whitest of coloured stones.

Another discerning item acknowledging Chinese collecting tastes is this fine example of a Kangxi blue and white brush pot, painted with historical figures, reflecting the typical style of Chinese scholars’ objects, and demonstrating their story.

AUCTION DETAILS Sworders Asian Art Auction 05/11/2021

CONTACT

Yexue Li Phone: +441279817778 Email: yexueli@sworder.co.uk

A Chinese jade moon flask

Mid Qing dynasty Jade and soapstone 12.2cm high ESTIMATE £10,000 - 15,000 PROVENANCE Acquired by the vendor’s late Great Grandfather who was in China in c.1900 and thence by descent.

A Chinese blue and white brush pot Kangxi (1662-1722), Porcelain 17.8cm high 19.5cm diameter ESTIMATE £1,000 - 1,500

NAGEL AUKTIONEN GMBH

Neckarstr. 189-191, 70190 Stuttgart, Germany NAGEL AUKTIONEN is one of Germany’s leading art auctioneers. The company is located in Stuttgart, capital of the federal state of BadenWuerttemberg. NAGEL holds two large Arts, Antiques and Jewellery auctions each year as well as two sales of Modern and Contemporary Art, Asian Art and one special auction of Rugs and Carpets, Textiles and Islamic Art. This fall, NAGEL will hold two Asian art sales with a separated focus on Japanese, Indian, and Southeast Asian art together with Collector’s Rugs and Carpets. 2022 will mark the auction house’s 100th anniversary featuring special events and auctions throughout the year.

NAGEL AUKTIONEN is your specialist for liquidating estates and collections.

This exceptionally rare gilt-bronze bell used to be one of a set of sixteen bells. Each bell sounded one particular tone, with twelve equal-tempered tones ‘zhenglü’ and four additional ‘beilü’, repeated tones with doubled wavelength. The present bell represents the tone ‘bei wuyi’ and is of identical size as ‘nanlü’ marked bell located in the MET (accession no.

03.15.3) which was gifted to the museum by Major Louis Livingston Seaman (1851-1932) in 1903. He was a military doctor and personal physician of Li Hongzhang (1823-1901). Both bells probably originate from the same set of imperial ‘bianzhong’.

AUCTION DETAILS

Indian & Ethnological Art & Fine Asian Art 8 - 10 November & 8 - 9 December

CONTACT

Michael Trautmann Phone: +4971164969310 Email: trautmann@auction.de

A Rare Imperial Gilt-Bronze Bell ‘Bianzhong’ marked ‘bei wuyi’ China, Qianlong period, dated 1745 Gilt bronze D. 23.5 / H. 31.3 cm ESTIMATE £250,000 - 350,000 PROVENANCE From the estate of an important German diplomat’s collection.

FEATURED LITERATURE C. f. an identical size bell in the Metropolitan Museum, NY, Accession Number: 03.15.3, probably from the same set of ‘bianzhong’

A Lotto-Ushak Rug Western Anatolia 1st half 17th ct.

Wool 172 x 113 cm ESTIMATE €9,000 - 15,000 PROVENANCE Important German aristocratic private collection, assembled in China prior to 1904 and owned by the family since then.

FEATURED LITERATURE

C. f. Hali 34 (1987), OBC and Hali 35, p. 79

ADAM’S AUCTIONEERS AND VALUERS 26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, D02 X665

Established in 1887, ADAM’S AUCTIONEERS & VALUERS is the leading Irish Fine Art Auction House and one of the fastest growing companies of the industry.

With two major auctions a year timed with both ‘Printemps Asiatique Paris’ and ‘Asian Art in London’, ADAM’S ASIAN ART DEPARTMENT brings to both seasoned and novice collectors a wide variety of asian artefacts and paintings, most with named provenances, divided into five specialities: – Chinese & Himalayan Arts – Vietnam & South East Asia – Japan & Korea – India & Islamic World – Asian Painters & Modern Art ADAM’S Asian Art Department is pleased to present two of the highlights of its upcoming Fine Asian Art Sale.

One of a large collection of jades from a French Private Collector assembled over 20 years, a rare ‘wild goose and bird of prey’ intricately reticulated jade finial attributed to Jin / Yuan Dynasty.

A top lot of the Vietnamese & Asian Painters part, an important painting

by VU CAO DAM depicting a young beauty with a blue scarf.

AUCTION DETAILS

Fine Asian Arts: China, Himalaya, Vietnam, South-East Asia, Asian Painters, Japan, Korea 23/11/2021 11:00 AM

CONTACT

Thibault Duval Phone: +353(01)6760261 Email: thibault@adams.ie

Portrait of a young lady with a blue scarf

Vu Cao Dam 1950’s Mixed media on silk laid on cardboard 33 x 23,8 cm ESTIMATE £30,000 - 50,000 PROVENANCE From a French Riviera Estate This painting seems to belong to a series of portraits of young women of similar size painted in the early 1950s.

For a portrait of this series at public auction, see Christie’s Hong Kong July 11, 2020, lot 251, painted in 1952 and sold for HKD525.000 BP incl.

A rare white jade ‘goose and bird of prey’ finial China, Attributed to Jin or Yuan Dynasty Jade H: 5,2 cm ESTIMATE £5,000 - 7,000 PROVENANCE A private collector, French Riviera Similar carving of a wild goose and bird of prey can be seen on a jade finial, attributed to Liao or Jin Dynasty, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 97.

Fine Art Shippers is a New York-based father & son branded company specializing in handling and shipping fine art, antiques, luxury items, and collectibles of all kinds. We have been in this business since 1995, providing a full range of artwork shipping services to private collectors, art dealers, galleries, artists, and auction houses. Our specialty includes shipping paintings, decorative fine art objects, large marble statues, metal sculptures, vintage furniture, antique pianos, and other valuable and expensive items of any size and weight. In addition to all types of the artwork transport services, our dedicated team of art shippers also offers a variety of other essential services, including art packing, museum-quality crating, art storage, art shuttles, white glove courier delivery, and art installation. Besides, Fine Art Shippers can assist with art insurance and customs brokerage through our reliable partners who adhere to the same values as we do.

Our mission is to provide our clients with customized fine art shipping and handling solutions of the highest quality while maintaining the affordability of all our services. Fine Art Shippers operates both across the United States and internationally, offering a variety of costeffective air and sea transportation options, making our company the number one choice for many reputable art business professionals.

Whatever your fine art shipping needs, you have come to the right place!

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The London Original Print Fair (LOPF) has modified its operations to suit the current restrictions and plans a Print Week in dealers’ galleries next month, writes Laura Chesters.

Prior to the pandemic, the annual event focusing on historic and Contemporary prints took place at The Royal Academy, its home for 36 years, but was held as an online edition last year.

This year – while an indoor multi-exhibitor event is still prohibited – the reopening of shops in England allows dealers to hold

A representative from the Vaults tenancy association committee said: “Our leases end at the end of March and tenants are currently negotiating new leases.

“It was a totally different situation with the previous landlord when we were in danger. We now have a new landlord who will be doing work to the upper building but are happy to keep the vaults. It will be business as usual when we can reopen.”

However, Koopman Rare Art, which operates from the ground floor gallery above the vaults as well as renting vaults in the basement, has decided to leave the area and will open a new gallery in Dover Street, Mayfair, later this year. Koopman has been in Chancery Lane since the late 1950s.

Bought for just $35 at a yard sale in Connecticut last year, this small Yongle (1403-24) blue and white ‘lotus bud’ bowl proved one of the star lots of Asia Week New York.

Given an estimate of $300,000-500,000 at Sotheby’s on March 17, it sold at $580,000/£412,000 ($721,800 including buyer’s premium).

Shortly after making the purchase near New Haven, the buyer sent photographs of the 6¼in (16cm) bowl to Sotheby’s Asian art department. “We instinctively had a very, very good feeling about it,” said Angela McAteer, head of Sotheby’s Chinese art department in New York.

It was later confirmed as one of only a handful of companion pieces known, including examples in the British Museum and the V&A. Another was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2007 for HK$700,000 (£70,000).

The Yongle court brought a very distinctive style to the

Pick of the week

Antiques&CollectorsMarkets

THURS 15 & FRI 16 APRIL

Thursday 9am - 6pm £20 (Thursday ticket allows entry on Friday) Friday 8am - 4pm £5 Newark & Nottinghamshire Showground, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG24 2NY

WE NOW TAKE CARD PAYMENT AT BOTH MARKETS

www.iacf.co.uk

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TUES 20 & WED 21 APRIL

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm £20 (Tuesday ticket allows entry on Wednesday) Wednesday 8am - 4pm £5 South of England Showground, Ardingly, WEST SUSSEX RH17 6TL

WEDS

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$35 yard sale find stars in Asia Week New York

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Left: the Yongle period blue and white lotus bud bowl sold for $580,000 (£412,000) at Sotheby’s New York on March 17.

known portrait of an African The future of The London Silver Vaults figure in Persian on artChancery and Lane is secure thanks to one of the earliest artistic a new landlord but long-time resident Koopman Rare Art is leaving for records of the African community that Mayfair. is still Flexible office space provider The Office present in the Gulf region.

Group (TOG) bought the building around On the market18for the ago. months Unlike at the previous owner (Aviva), the first time in half a century group plans to significantly refurbish and Bonhams’ Islamic & Indian redevelop the 150,000 sq ft block rather Art sale on March 30,pull it the building down. This means the than of The London Silver Vaults – sold at £300,000tenants (estimate around 40 dealers – can remain. £100,000-150,000).

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Welcome BACK to our

THE ART M AR KET WEEKLY

Among the highlights of last week’s Islamic and Indian art sales in London was this late Safavid portrait of a mercenary in the Persian army painted in the cosmopolitan city of Isfahan c.1680-90.

Laura Chesters It could be thebyearliest

Print fair morphs into Print Week

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Silver Vaults to remain but Koopman plans Mayfair move

The record for a British coin has been broken again with the sale at Heritage in Dallas of an Edward VIII proof pattern £5 for $1.9m (£1.39m). The largest denomination from the fabled 1937 ‘abdication’ sets almost doubled the previous high for a British issue set just six months ago in Monaco.

Despite extensive preparations for an Edward VIII coinage (records at the Royal Mint suggest that more than 200 dies for coins, medals and seals were prepared), the plans for general circulation in January 1938 were cut short by the events of December 1937.

Only a handful of trial proofs survive.

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newly built porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen – perfecting a smooth porcelain body, an unctuous silky glaze and a recipe for deep blue cobalt decoration.

The shape known as lotus bud (lianzi) or chicken heart (jixin) would seem to be purely Chinese. Alongside lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and pomegranate, blossoms are trefoil motifs borrowed from earlier Khorasan metalwork – the result of regular contact with the Islamic world.

McAteer added: “The result epitomises the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime discovery stories that we dream about as specialists in the Chinese art field... it is a reminder that precious works of art remain hidden in plain sight just waiting to be found.”

See Pick of the Week on page 6 for more highlights from Asia Week New York.

Roland Arkell

www.thedaaf.com The Online Dutch Art & Antiques Fair

enquiries@iacf.co.uk

The online fair by members of the Royal Dutch Association of Art and Antiques Dealers

1971-2021

ONLINE ONLY Opening Friday 9 April 14:00 hrs CET Closing Sunday 11 April 21:00 hrs CET

Asian Art Previews

A longer

Elephant ride can bring good fortune

stretch

Asian Art International previews

Schedules for all sorts of auction series have been shaken up by pandemic restrictions, and the Asian art sales reflect this – but plenty is still on offer. By Roland Arkell and Anne Crane

Tibetan Buddha

May sale held by Christie’s or indeed at Woolley & Wallis – the Salisbury firm choosing to sell Chinese and Japanese art in July instead.

Pictured here are some highlights from MayJune sales in the UK plus upcoming lots from events in Germany and France.n

Screen scene This 18th century Chinese lacquer table screen applied to both sides with a carved ivory scene of a mountainous landscape is housed in a stand carved with taotie masks and stylised phoenix.

Measuring 22 x 8in (55 x 20cm), it comes for sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet on May 14 from a vendor whose grandfather owned it for many years.

Estimate £800-1200. sworder.co.uk

Final slice of Roger Keverne stock Bonhams is to auction the remaining stock of the long-established London Chinese art dealership Roger Keverne.

Two dedicated sales will disperse over 800 lots without reserve – the first on May 11, where this 9th or 10th century polychromed limestone figure of a luohan is guided at £30,000-50,000. The second takes place in June.

Keverne, who was head of Spink’s Asian departments at the age of only 28, started his own business in 1992 with Miranda Clarke, his wife and business partner. He traded for many years from his gallery at 16 Clifford St, Mayfair, which closed its doors last June. bonhams.com

Acquired by diplomat grandfather

Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers

Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 May, 10am

Satsuma bowl sold by Blow

asian art

Friday 14 May, 10am

Qianlong vase from English collection 15 Cecil Court | London | WC2N 4EZ

of Chinese art on May 12 includes SaturdaySotheby’s 8 andsale Sunday 9 May 10am - 1pm this Qianlong mark and period celadon ground Monday famille 10 - rose Thursday 10am - 4pm decorated 13 bottleMay vase from an English private collection.

Made in the 1780s or 90s, towards the end of the Qianlong reign, it is guided at £80,000120,000. sothebys.com antiquestradegazette.com

primroses, apples and porcelain by the Chinese artist Pan Yu Liang (1895-1977).

The 18 x 12½in (45 x 32cm) oil on cardboard, which is signed lower right, has an estimate of €80,000-120,000. tajan.com

Sun rises in Berlin

The May 11-14 auction at Adam Partridge will feature the last 40 lots of Meiji period Satsuma from a noted Worcestershire collection.

This bowl decorated with a procession from the workshop of Shoko Takebe is signed and inscribed in Katakana Thomas B Blow.

Blow was an English dealer who lived in Japan and supplied many European collections with fine works of art including Alfred Baur in Geneva.

Estimate £1000-1500. adampartridge.co.uk

On view only at Sworders London Gallery

The sale at Mallams in Cheltenham on June 23-24 includes this pair of Yongzheng (1723-35) mark and period blue and white five lobed jardinieres.

Decorated with Indian lotus flowers, each vessel has four drainage piercings and is supported on five rue shaped feed with a linear rui head motif.

Acquired by the vendor’s grandfather in Beijing around the 1930s while working as a junior diplomat, the 9in (23cm) pair is guided at £20,000-30,000. mallams.co.uk 30 | 8 May 2021

archaic bronzes, Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain, jade carvings, cloisonné enamels, lacquer and classical and modern Chinese paintings.

The highlights include this c.15th century Tibetan gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Bhaisajyaguru, from a European private collection.

Estimate €350,000-550,000. christies.com

This 19th century thangka depicting the Buddhist goddess Tara seated in lalitasana on a lotus growing from a lake a pond, a padma in each hand, was acquired by Oliver Robert Coales in eastern Tibet in 1916-17.

Measuring 14½ x 10in (37 x 26cm) in a brocaded silk mount, it is expected to bring £800-1200 at Olympia Auctions on A highlight of the May 26.

Asian Art sale to be Matthew Barton’s sale comprises both European held by Tajan in Paris and Asian Works of Art. on June 7 will be this olympiaauctions.com still-life of a pot of

Primroses, apples and porcelain

© Christie’s Images Limited 2021

Traditionally crammed into a couple of weeks in May, this year’s crop of UK Asian art sales will be held across a more leisurely schedule that runs from late spring into the summer.

So, while Sotheby’s and Bonhams continue as normal with London sales this month, there is no

To make an appointment to view antiquestradegazette.com auctions@sworder.co.uk/appointments 0203 971 2500 or 01279 817778

Auction on line at www.sworder.co.uk

34 | 8 May 2021

Special 50th anniversary limited edition tea towel

Buddhist goddess takes a lotus position

Chiswick Auctions conducts two sales on June 1-2: the usual Asian Art sale, plus a themed sale called Chinese Art: 100 Stories.

The latter features pieces relating tales from Chinese history or literature and others that have interesting provenances or stories, such as this late Ming blue and white elephant and buddha form censer.

Produced for the Japanese market between 1620-45, and one of a group of ceramics known as kosometsuke (old blue and white), the form also had particular meaning in China where A number of Paris salerooms will be holding term qixiang (to ride an elephant) also dedicated auctions the of Asian Arts in June. sounds similar to jixiang, Christie’s Paris has a sale on June 9 of meaning good fortune.

Estimate £15,000-20,000. works from private European and Asian chiswickauctions.co.uk collections that will feature Buddhist art,

Among the highlights of the Asian Art auction to be held by Koller in Zurich on June 2 is this 2ft 1in x 4ft 6in (62cm x 1.38m) ink and colour scroll painting Sunrise at Mount Tai by Li Keran (1907-89).

Li Keran was a long-time student of Qi Baishi and in later years served as vice chairman of the Chinese Artists Association and dean of the Institute of Chinese Painting.

He gave this painting to Lothar Bolz, a deputy prime minister of the GDR, during a four-month visit to Berlin in 1957.

Bolz and German Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl, accompanied by Xia Yan, the Chinese deputy minister of culture, and Li Keran, had visited Qi Baishi during a visit to China in December 1955.

The painting, which is inscribed and signed Keran, has three artist’s seals and one collector’s seal and is dated Berlin 1957, was acquired in 1970 by Jerg Haas, a collector from Wiesbaden.

Estimate SFr150,000-250,000. kollerauctions.com

Russian ambassador’s Japanese swords On May 18 Paris auction firm Tessier Sarrou is selling the first part of a collection of Japanese swords.

Half a dozen of these were formerly part of the collection of George Petrovitch Bakhmeteff (1847-1928), dispersed in a sale at Drouot in January 1929.

Bakhmeteff served as the Russian ambassador to Japan from 1905-08 and then to Washington from 1911-17. After the Russian Revolution he lived in Paris.

Among the Bakhmeteff swords in this auction is this wazkizashi from the Muromachi era (1333-1573) signed Munechika. It measures 18in (46cm) in length, has a red lacquer scabbard and mounts and fittings that include a tsuba, fuchi kashira and a kozuka in iron, brass menuki and a gilt copper habaki.

Estimate €8000-10,000. tessier-sarrou.com

Bronze with multiple reasons to bid A highlight of the Asian art sale at Nagel in Stuttgart on June 23-25 will be this large 3ft (92cm) high Imperial gilt bronze figure of Varjrabhairava.

A rare and large gold and silver-inlaid bronze tapir-form vessel, zun, Yuan/ Ming dynasty, 13th-15th century The multi-headed, multi£50,000-£80,000* limbed figure also known as Yamantaka (the destroyer of death) is one of the revered Scan the QR code to view the auction catalogue meditation deities of the www.roseberys.co.uk Gelug lineage of Buddhism.

A notable attraction of Email asian@roseberys.co.uk for more information this piece is the inscription 70/76 Knights Hill, London SE27 0JD | +44 (0) 20 8761 2522 on the lotus pedestal which *Plus Buyer’s Premium +VAT (30% inclusive of VAT) is marked and dated daming 8 May 2021 | 31 chenghua jiu nian shiyi yue chu’er ri anxigong shi, corresponding to the second day of the 11th lunar month, the ninth year of emperor Chenghua’s reign, 1473.

The anxigong shi part of the inscription specifies that the bronze figure was bestowed by the Anxi Palace, which Lady Wan Guifei, the favourite imperial consort of Chenghua, later occupied.

A silk embroidery of Buddha from the Anxi Palace, in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, bears an inscription similar to the present figure, but for the seventh year of Chenghua’s reign (1471). It was identified by the museum experts as being commissioned by an imperial consort as a birthday gift for the emperor.

The figure has come from a European private collection and was acquired through the New York dealer Alan Hartman in 1975. It was last at auction almost 120 years ago, in 1904, when it was sold at Drouot from the Gumpel collection.

Estimate €1m-1.5m. auction.de antiquestradegazette.com

antiquestradegazette.com

Asian Art Auction

Mallams 1788

23rd & 24th June

A Chinese white jade brush washer, Qianlong period 1736-1795 Estimate £15,000 – 20,000

Mallams Cheltenham www.mallams.co.uk

8 May 2021 | 35

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