Gujarat mother-of-pearl charger with European silver mounts c.1625-50, 18in (45cm) diameter, offered by Francesca Galloway.
Winning the Antiques Trade Gazette award for an outstanding Asian work of art from an auction house was an 18th century tiger hunt painting by Shaykh Tajju. It was offered for sale at Christie’s on the same day as the award announcement and sold for £4.1m (£5.5m with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of £200,000-300,000. See front and facing pages for further coverage of that Christie’s auction.
Featured here are full details of each of the award winners.
Asian Art in London runs until Thursday November 6. See ATG No 2716 for all the items short-listed for the awards and asianartinlondon.com for further information on all the events taking place.
The Apollo award for an outstanding Asian work of art from a dealer
FRANCESCA GALLOWAY
Gujarat mother-of-pearl charger with European silver mounts c.1625-50, 18in (45cm) diameter.
This Gujarati mother-of-pearl charger is of exceptional size and unusual construction. Entirely constructed of small, individually shaped mother-of-pearl plaques, it has no metal or wooden core. A series of graduating scalloped plaques radiating from a central flower with 22 petals and are kept in place with minute metal pins and a metal rim.
Gujarat mother-of-pearl charger with European silver mounts c.1625-50, 18in (45cm) diameter, offered by Francesca Galloway.
The inner rim is mounted with a European, probably English, silver-gilt band. The piece was formerly part of the collection assembled over half a century by Selim Zilkha (1927-2022), founder of Mothercare, and appears in Timothy Schroder’s book Renaissance and Baroque – Silver, Mounted Porcelain and Ruby Glass from the Zilkha Collection (2012). It is priced by Francesca Galloway in the region of £250,000.
The Antiques Trade Gazette award for an outstanding Asian work of art from an auction house
CHRISTIE’S
Maharao Umed Singh and Zalim Singh Hunting Tigers by Shaykh Tajju, signed and dated 1781, opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, 20in x 2ft 7in (52 x 80cm).
This extraordinary composition, a tour-de-force of late 18th century Kotah painting, is by the accomplished court artist Sheikh Taju. It captures the intensity and danger of the tiger hunt so beloved by Maharao Umed Singh (1771-1819).
Maharao Umed Singh and Zalim Singh Hunting Tigers by Shaykh Tajju, signed and dated 1781, offered by Christie's.
In the manner of a painting by Henri Rousseau, the vegetation completely dominates the entire page leaving the viewer to search for the actors – the tigers, deer, beaters and hunters – lost in the spring-time forest. Umed Singh, a celebrated marksman, fires his first shot from a small platform to the lower left.
The painting is one of many highlights from the collection of Indian paintings formed by Prince Sadruddin and Princess Catherine Aga Khan to be sold by Christie’s on October 28. For decades it has hung in their home on the shores of Lake Geneva, only leaving to be included in exhibitions including India, Art and Culture 1300-1900 at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in 1985 and Princes, Poets and Paladins at the British Museum in 1998.
The Modern & Contemporary Asian art award
SIMON PILLING
Dawn Cloud (Gyoun) by Hattori Shunsho (1943-2018), Heisei period c.2000, gold and coloured lacquers, silver leaf and mother-of-pearl inlays, 7½ x 7½in (18 x 18cm).
Dawn Cloud (Gyoun) by Hattori Shunsho (1943-2018), Heisei period c.2000, offered by Simon Pilling.
Shimmering iridescence, bold geometry, and perfect form define the work of Kyoto master craftsman Hattori Shunsho. This domed cube box celebrating the arrival of dawn epitomises his vision and formidable technical skills. Vivid Mexican abalone shell inlays create the sky, against which bands of cloud are given form through fine lines of gold makie and silver leaf inlays.
The top of Dawn Cloud (Gyoun) by Hattori Shunsho (1943-2018), Heisei period c.2000, offered by Simon Pilling.
Shining light on the box causes an extraordinary effect of vivid, iridescent red and green to appear within the golden clouds – an effect achieved through the incorporation of crushed jewel beetle, tamamushi.
Acquired from a private Kyoto collection, it is priced at around £18,000 by Simon Pilling (exhibiting at Sotheby’s during AAL).
