Chinese Works of Art

Chinese export bowls such as this one, decorated in the mandarin palette with famille rose foxhunting scenes, were popular both with the British and American markets in the last quarter of the 18th century.

Leading the sale held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Rosewell, Edinburgh, was a 7in (18cm) high Qing iron red bottle decorated with chilong dragons amid stylised clouds. It had apparently been rejected by ‘a more prestigious auctioneer’.

This silver-gilt chinoiserie garniture would not have looked out of place at the Brighton Pavilion.

The potent mix of China, horseracing and the 1851 Great Exhibition yielded a strong price for this splendid ‘export’ silver trophy at auction.

Perhaps the most identifiable production of the Daoguang period (1820-50) of the Qing empire is the medallion bowl.

Leading a recent Woolley & Wallis' (25/12% buyer’s premium) sale in Salisbury were two scroll paintings by well-known 20th century Chinese artists that came by descent from Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883-1950).

The market for Chinese furniture has come on leaps and bounds in 20 years.

This Kangxi (1662-1722) period blue and white brush pot was offered at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) in Stansted Mountfitchet.

Many Chinese export porcelain forms were inspired by European silver or ceramic forms.

Qianlong moon flasks of this type are based on Ming dynasty prototypes that in turn were inspired by early Persian drinking vessels traded along the Silk Road.

The scene on this 19in (43cm) Yongzheng famille rose dish depicts the Daoist immortal Magu on her way to celebrate the famous peach banquet of the Queen Mother of the West, Xi Wang Mu, who rules over the garden of the peaches of longevity.

The highest single price posted in the regions during the autumn series of Asian art sales was the £380,000 bid at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Dorchester for a monumental Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze devotional figure of Tara broadly dated to the Qing period.

This Qing bronze fragment measuring a substantial 19in (47cm) across was once part of a magnificent sculpture of a crane that adorned an imperial palace.

The outstanding jade offered in the regions in the October-December period was this pale celadon teapot and cover that came for sale at Duke’s in Dorchester on December 8 from a Dutch private collection where it had been since the 1980s.

The opening 27 lots at Nagel’s sale of Asian works of art on December 7 in Stuttgart come from the collection of an aristocratic German family and have been in their possession since before 1904, when they were purchased in China.

The highlight of Bonhams’ Chinese art series conducted in London last week was the sale of the Parry collection of Chinese art.

This reticulated Longquan celadon pear-shaped vase is one of the stars in an exhibition at Littleton & Hennessey in Duke Street, London.

Duke’s sale in Dorchester on November 25 includes this pair of Yongzheng period (1723-35) famille rose fish bowls.

Jade ewers such as this one represent cu da ming.