Chinese Works of Art

Stuttgart auctioneers Nagel achieved a new German auction record for Oriental art when they sold a Yongzheng mark and period wine pot and cover for €2.8m (£2.37m).

The Pinault family, owners of Christie’s and the luxury goods group PPR, are to hand back to China the two Qianlong bronzes that caused great upset when offered for sale in Paris four years ago.

A new auction high for Qing Kangxi porcelain was established in Sotheby’s latest spring sale series in Hong Kong.

This Chinese gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya dating to the Qing dynasty was among the Asian highlights on offer at The Canterbury Auction Galleries’ latest sale.

The best Chinese works of art continue to prosper in the salerooms.

Gloucestershire auctioneers Dominic Winter are offering a reward for information leading to the return of 42 lots which were stolen in a smash-and-grab raid on their South Cerney premises.

Peter Bainbridge has confirmed to Antiques Trade Gazette that the Qianlong vase at the centre of a highly publicised payment dispute since November 2010 has finally been sold.

Getting the New Year off to a good start at Addisons of Barnard Castle, County Durham, a 20th century blue and white porcelain table screen by the renowned Chinese ceramic artist Wang Bu (1898-1968) improved upon an estimate of just £130-150 to sell for £34,300.

Ritchies, the Toronto auction house founded in 1967 and declared bankrupt in 2009, are trading again. And in spectacular style.

The toast of November’s clutch of Asian art sales was not to be found in London or Salisbury but in Leyburn.

Edinburgh-based auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull will offer a pair of Chinese filigree fans at their Asian sale on December 5.

This pair of Chinese export enamelled incense holders in the form of elephants are on offer at Dreweatts’ November 21 sale in Donnington Priory, Newbury.

This Chinese porcelain enamel-decorated wig stand was purchased by the vendor’s father from a country house sale in 1953.

Cast in the shape of a standing tapir, this Chinese bronze censer was acquired in China by the vendor’s grandfather Sir Percy Alden (1865-1944), a British social worker, land reformer and politician.

Fishermen are reported to have discovered another ancient shipwreck, complete with cargo, in the South China Sea near Vung Tau off the South East coast of Vietnam.

Decorated by William Burges (1827-1881), this silver mounted Chinese carved celadon jade bowl it to be offered at Dreweatts in Donnington Priory, Newbury on September 12.

The Chinese market may have slowed down a bit in the last six months, but this sector nevertheless remains of great importance to UK provincial auctioneers.

The continuing strength of the Chinese market – both the seemingly endless supply of Chinese ceramics and works of art and the demand for them – has meant provincial auctioneers have had to become increasingly knowledgeable about what is on their doorstep.

A pair of 19th or early 20th century Chinese porcelain fish bowls found in a barn on the grounds of a local country house are on sale at Reeman Dansie’s two-day auction on July 31-August 1 in Colchester.

This Chinese cloisonné enamel crane from the Qing Dynasty (18th-19th century) will be offered in Dreweatts’ Donnington Priory sale on June 27.