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Exquisite white jade carvings dating largely to the Qianlong Period (1736–95), are offered from a private English collection. With estimates ranging from £4,000 to £200,000. Christie’s Images Ltd. 2008
LONDON.- The continuing international appeal of Asian Art was demonstrated in the September New York sales which realised $51.1 million, the second highest total ever for Asian Art Week at Christie’s New York. This autumn, Christie’s London Asian Art Week will run from 4 -11 November 2008, featuring further treasures of great rarity and beauty, with many highlights offered from superb private collections. Estimated to realise in the region of £7 million, the sales include: A Private English Collection of White Jade Carvings & Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Export Art on 4 November at King Street; Japanese Art & Asian Textiles including the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection on 6 November at South Kensington, Chinese Art on 7 November at South Kensington Japanese Art and Design including an Important Group of Swords from a Private European Collection on 11 November at King Street. A Private English Collection of White Jade Carvings & Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Export Art: 4 November at 10.30am & 2.30pm, Christie’s King Street 18 exquisite white jade carvings dating largely to the Qianlong Period (1736–95), are offered from a private English collection. With estimates ranging from £4,000 to £200,000, the centerpiece is a dramatic, exceptionally fine and rare Imperial white jade ‘phoenix’ wine-pot and cover (estimate: £200,000-300,000). The spout is the shape of a phoenix head, exemplifying the long standing history in China of using birds’ heads to provide the shape of the spout on both bronze vessels and ceramic wares. The wine-pot also features a magnificent dragonhead handle and a domed cover with an exquisite peony finial. Among the other jades from the collection is a very fine and rare imperial white jade archaistic vessel (estimate: £180,000-220,000), comprising a trumpet neck with elegant overlapping plantain leaves decorated with geometric motifs. The technical difficulties and the extravagant use of top-quality material employed in the making of this vase, indicates that it could only have been made for the use of the Emperor himself, probably on the writing desk of his private study. Elsewhere, two works from the famous Palmer Collection will attract great interest. Executed in very different mediums, the first is a beautiful and extremely rare Yongzheng (1723-35) porcelain bowl decorated in famille rose enamels, with an unusual roundel design of peaches and bats (estimate: £150,000 – 250,000). The second is a superb 17th/18th Century rhinoceros horn water–dropper, carved in the form of a lotus leaf, with its stem forming the spout (estimate: £80,000-100,000). Further highlights range from a fine silk kesi tapestry depicting Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, riding on a phoenix above Daoist immortals who await her on a garden terrace (estimate: £15-20,000), to a pair of painted album leaves bearing portraits of two of the Qianlong Emperor‘s favoured Imperial bannermen, accompanied by inscriptions from the Emperor’s own brush (estimate: £100,000-150,000). Japanese Art & Asian Textiles including the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection on 6 November at 10.30 am and 1pm Christie’s South Kensington Following the success of The Imperial Wardrobe sale in New York, March 2008, Christie’s are pleased to offer a further selection from the Collection with the Linda Wrigglesworth Collection of Korean and Japanese Textiles. Including Japanese kimono and resist dyed indigo futon covers and wrapping cloths, the sale also features unusual and rare Korean ritual cloths (pojagi), including a 19th century brightly coloured ‘Windmill’ design (estimate: £4,000-6,000) and court costume. Estimates range from £500 to £5,000. The final selection of Chinese costume and textiles from this collection will be offered in May 2009. In addition, beyond the collection, the sale features a selection of Chinese and Japanese costume and textiles including kimono, Canton export coverlets, court dress and rank badges such as a pair of 19th century Chinese Kesi censor’s rank badges (estimate: £6,000-8,000). Key works also include a mid-19th Century Chinese Imperial turquoise chi’fu or formal robe, which is embroidered with nine gilt, five toed dragons (estimate: £12,000-14,000). The use of turquoise robes was the privilege of the immediate members of the Imperial family and is usually associated with female members; this robe displays the elbow bands and closed front of a lady’s robe. Chinese Art on 7 November at 10.30am and 2.00pm, Christie’s South Kensington Japanese Art and Design including an Important Group of Swords from a Private European Collection on 11 November at 2pm, Christie’s King Street Among lacquers in the sale spanning the 16th century to the modern day, is a remarkably fine contemporary lacquer writing box illustrated right and table [Suzuribako and Bundai], by Kitamura Tatsuo, born in 1951, who often signs, as in this case, Unryuan, 20th century (estimate: £30,000-50,000). Each piece decorated in vivid gold, black, red, white, green and blue lacquer, they depict scenes in the battle Osaka natsu no jin (The Osaka Summer Battle) which occurred in May 1615. A private European collection of prints comes fresh to the market, having not been seen for over 50 years, it includes fine examples by Suzuki Harunobu (c.1725-1770), Kitagawa Utamaro (c.1753-1806), Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), for example a fine impression of Hiroshige’s Moon Cape, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo, estimate £4000-6000. In addition to this collection is an unusual work, an Okubi-e portrait of Yaozo, by Toshusai Sharaku (active 1794-1795) (estimate: £25,000-30,000). Sharaku is widely considered to be one of the great masters of woodblock printing in Japan, despite having an extremely short period of activity. He designed portraits of the Kabuki actors and this work depicts the actor Ichikawa Yaozo III as Tanabe Bunzo in the play Hanayame Bunroku Soga performed at the Miyako-za in the fifth month of Kansei 6 (1794). Elsewhere, there is a Yoshitoshi print album (One Hundred Aspects of the Moon) (estimate: £20,000-25,000). Other key examples include a superb hand-painted scroll by Hokusai, depicting an interior scene and a panoramic view of the journey along the Sumida River from the Nihonbashi Bridge to the Yoshiwara (estimate: £40,000-60,000). The inscription on the scroll indicates that it was commissioned by Utei Enba, a writer of comic verse, and painted by Hokusai at the Danjuro establishment. The Important Group of Swords from a Private European Collection features 18 swords with estimates ranging from £5,000 to £300,000, led by an important Ko-Bizen Tachi, signed Kuni Tomonari saku, the remarkable sword-smith, Kamakura Period (12th-13th century) (estimate: £280,000-300,000). It is a masterpiece of early work by Tomonari. A further important sword with an elegant Heian shape is by Yoshikane, and dates from the late 12th to early 13th century (estimate: £150-180,000). There is also a collection of sword fittings formed in the late 1940’s-70’s by Burnie McDonald Craig, which includes many examples acquired from notable London sales including those of Vever, Hawkshaw, Naunton and Hawkins. |
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