Asian Art

Colchester auction house Reeman Dansie follows a policy of detailed cataloguing for Chinese art but modest estimates

Although catalogued as ‘a 19th century Japanese woodblock print’, the signature to a scene of a boat with Mount Fuji beyond gave a clue to its creator.

Lindsey Butcher is the owner of the 80-strong Malthouse Collective in Stroud and during lockdown is throwing a lot into the pot for her dealers.

Tureens in the form of geese, cockerel, carp, ox head, boar’s head and other animals were an integral part of the grand display in an 18th century European dining room.

During its New York Americana week Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) held an online-only auction devoted to Chinese export art from January 7-20.

The form of this 2ft (61cm) high Tang dynasty (618-907) pottery figure of a Bactrian camel and rider points towards the Silk Road.

A local collector who consigned a pair of Chinese porcelain vases to Hargesheimer (25% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf was in for a substantial pre-Christmas surprise.

A recent fine art auction at Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) included a once magnificent Qianlong (1735-99) copper-red and underglaze blue lantern vase.

A celadon vase to a celebrated ‘double-dragon’ form has sold for €1.2m (£1.1m) – a record for Chinese art in Ireland. The 20½in (52cm) vase with a Yongzheng (1722-35) six-character mark was estimated at just €800-1200 at Sheppard’s in Durrow, Co Laois.

Christie’s is moving its Asian art sales from London to Paris and Hong Kong from next year.

Bonhams’ December 14 Chinese and Japanese works of Art sale in Los Angeles will include works from the Collection of Rosalind Ching Pastor.

Despite the restrictions on travel and viewing, the market for Chinese works of art has appeared remarkably robust in the year of coronavirus. ATG reports on the highpoints of the recent round of London and UK regional sales

In November 2008, Christie’s held a sale in London of Chinese works of art that included lots from the collection of Baron (1894-1991) and Baroness von Oertzen (1908-2007). The couple, who had settled in South Africa after the Second World War, acquired a deep knowledge of Chinese art and a large and varied collection, buying from the 1960s onwards.

The November 11 Islamic & Oriental sale at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Fernhurst was topped at £6200 (estimate £400-600) by this 19th century cinnabar lacquer table mirror.

The sale held by Matthew Barton at Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on November 18 included a series of pairs of 6in (15cm) diameter porcelain bowls from a private European collection assembled in Hong Kong in the 1980s-90s.