Dear Collectors of Asian Art,
We are very happy to present you with this special auction catalog of Ancient Asian gold from an important European private collection. All pieces in this auction are predominantly made from gold and in most cases the starting price of a lot reflects the gold value. Many of the objects are extremely rare and of museum quality. Some have been published and exhibited, including works crafted during the classical period of Cham art.
The items in this sale all come from Southeast Asia, most from the lost kingdom of Champa, a collection of independent polities along the coast of present-day central and southern Vietnam that existed between the 2nd century, when the kingdom of Lam Ap was founded in 192 AD, and the 19th century, when the final vestiges of Champa were annexed and absorbed by the Dai Viet (of what is now northern Vietnam) in 1832. Besides a certain focus on Champa, however, many objects in our sale come from different empires and countries in South and Southeast Asia.
