Asian Art

The sale at Kinghams (23% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh included a 12in (30cm) carved cinnabar lacquer dish dating from the late Yuan or early Ming period – c.1350-1400.

Dreweatts’ (25% buyer’s premium) ‘part II’ sale of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at the end of last year included Chinese export porcelain from ‘the china store of a Somerset country house’.

By illustrating and combining popular folk songs with scenes of dramas of the time, the artist or workshop named Ding Liangxian created a new type of woodblock print for urban Chinese audiences in the second quarter of the 18th century.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including an 18th century Kyoto carving setting an auction record at Bonhams for any netsuke.

Creative examples featured in recent UK auctions show the influence of religion and culture on the Manchu rulers of the Qing

A large reticulated ‘dragon and phoenix’ censer came for sale at Mallams’ (25% buyer’s premium) in Cheltenham from a Herefordshire vendor whose family had lived in Shanghai in the 1930s.

The Komai family of sword makers and armourers were among the many Japanese metalworkers courting a new clientele during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

Vietnamese buyers have sent the best works of art from the Le (1428-1789) and Nguyen (1802-1945) dynasties to unchartered territory in recent years.

The Rokujuyoshu Meisho Zue (Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces) series was the last great landscape work created by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).

Neolithic jade congs – the inspiration for many pieces of Qing and later porcelain – are probably some of the most intriguing objects from ancient Chinese culture.

Sir Michael Butler (1927-2013) was part of that post-war generation of ‘gentlemen in the professions’ who chose collecting as their primary leisure activity.

The Makuzu Kozan workshop was established by Miyagawa Kozan (1842- 1916) in Yokohama, one of the main portals of trade with the West, in 1871.

The second tranche of the collection of Hong Kong property investor Sir Joseph Hotung (1930-2021) generated some strong competition at Sotheby’s in London with a number of high-value pictures, as well some exceptional pieces of furniture, ceramics and decorative art, on offer last week.

This head of Buddha Sakyamuni from Thailand, c.1500, is among the offerings from Marcel Nies’ latest show and catalogue on Asian sculpture.

Sixteenth century single folio manuscript displays orgiastic spree in graphic detail

Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) was another of the London salerooms that held a designated sale in Islamic week.

A multitude of fabulous creatures are an integral part of traditional Chinese mythology. Among them is the Bixie, whose name translates as ‘to ward off evil spirits’.