Antiques Trade Gazette 23


Left: consigned for sale by a Bristol area charity shop, this Kangxi bamboo ‘landscape’ bitong signed by Gu Jue sold for £360,000 at Woolley & Wallis.


Below: the highlight of the John and Helen Bargolini collection of Yixing teapots was this example sold at £60,000.


Above: a blue and white Qianlong mark bowl decorated with the five children of Dou Yujina sold for £21,000 at Adam Partridge.


IN MACCLESFIELD Iconography and meaning is such an important part of Chinese art. As a subject, the five boys chasing a helmet is hard to beat. A pun for ‘eminent’ or great, the


Charity shop bamboo bitong brings £360,000


IT has to go down as quite some charity shop donation. Leading Woolley & Wallis’ marathon May 23 sale was a Kangxi (1662-1722) bamboo ‘landscape’ bitong superbly carved in varying relief with the philosopher Laozi on his ox amidst a continuous scene of 12 figures engaged in various pursuits. It was signed Gu Jue (followed by the


seal Zong Yu), a native of Jiangsu Province famed in the period for these mountainous landscapes carved in high relief with incredible attention to detail. Well-known poems or novels were


often the inspiration for his work – in this case probably The Agreeable Life in a Land of Transcendents. The provenance for this 6½in (16cm)


brush pot was listed in the catalogue as a deceased West Country estate. More specifically it had been donated earlier this year to a Bristol-area charity shop which had contacted local auctioneers Clevedon Salerooms who in turn contacted John Axford at Woolley & Wallis for an expert opinion. All will share in the spoils of a £360,000


(plus premium) sale to a collector from Hong Kong. Other brush pots signed by the artist


have sold in Hong Kong – including one for a premium-inclusive HK$10,760,000 ($1,389,000) at Christie’s in May 2005 – but this example was compromised by some cracks to the exterior and the condition of the hardwood mounts that were damaged and poorly glued. The estimate had been set at £15,000-25,000. In keeping with previous years, the


Salisbury saleroom unearthed the best hardstone carving of the series, a Qianlong or Jiaqing white jade incense burner and cover. It was carved in the archaistic style


with stylized taotie, the knop as a twin- horned reticulated dragon with a pearl of wisdom, the handles as the heads of mythical beasts. The vendor was a descendant of


Lieutenant General John Ford Elkington (d.1889), who (while a major) served as aide-de-camp to a Major General Michel when he was posted to China in 1860. Key to the commercial fortunes of this vessel, he was present at the sacking of the Old Summer Palace. Estimated at £20,000- 30,000, it sold at £210,000. If this was a strong price for a highly


thought-of object, then more of a surprise was the £180,000 tendered for a white- glazed ewer in the early Ming style (see page 19) and the £60,000 performance of a Yixing teapot and cover. Based on sales in May and November


2011, the auctioneers have a good track record with these once affordable vessels, having sold several collections including


that of retired Portobello dealer Arthur J. Harris for a remarkable £1.1m this time last year. Sixty five lots in this sale, representing


close to 150 different red clay vessels, came from UK private collectors John and Helen Bargolini. Many pieces had formed part of the Exhibition of Chinese Tea Ware, Yixing Purple Clay at Hoghton Tower, Lancashire in 1986. Like many of the better single teapots


the 19th century example, moulded as a bunch of bamboo with the knop, handle and spout formed as branches, was estimated at £1000-1500 but, despite some restoration, sold at £60,000. Important to its appeal was the potters mark beneath the handle, probably for Menghou. The sale total of £2,867,020 and the


selling rate of 82% from a broad brush of 881 lots can only be interpreted as an excellent overall result.


EXPORT PORCELAIN The choice Chinese export porcelain lot in the recent series was this 13in (33cm) punch bowl painted en grisaille with the sinking of the fabled treasure ship, the Verelst. A central gilt monogram is surrounded by four running scenes including that


of the shipwreck with sailors clinging to oars and rafts, captioned April 29 The Carpenter Left This Aft Part of the Rack. Two others are pictured right. Dashed to pieces on a reef near the fishing village known as Grand Gaube in


Mauritius on April 25, 1771, the Verelst is considered to be the richest treasure ship ever lost by the Dutch and legend has it that its cargo of more than two million gold florins also included 740 pounds of uncut diamonds in 17 chests, one stone the size of a man’s fist. The vessel, named after Harry Verelst (1734-85) a colonial administrator with the


British East India company and the governor of Bengal from 1767-69, was found a few years ago, but nothing of her great treasure was recovered. Bidding on this unusual bowl, expected to sell for £3000-£4000 despite its


obvious condition issues (it had been riveted), rose to £9000 at Mallams in Cheltenham on May 16.


five boys also refer to the children of Dou Yujina, the scholar, educator and official of the Five Dynasties period (907-60), whose model offspring, five sons who each achieved eminence in the civil service, earned him reverence as the ideal parent. Objects such as this 6in (15cm)


diameter bowl, seen at Adam Partridge of Macclesfield on May 25, are deemed perfect gifts for a family man. It may not have been Qianlong


period as the seal mark purported, but it nonetheless sold well above hopes for £21,000 (estimate £400- 600).


A 13in (32cm) Jiaqing vase


decorated in enamels to a midnight blue ground with peony, ruyi scrolls and Buddhist jewels had come to the vendor by direct descent of David Blattner Bay, ensign of Queen Victoria. It was also the same chipped vase


which had ‘sold’ in these rooms for £68,000 in October to a deadbeat buyer who had failed to pay. Estimated at £10,000-15,000, this time it got away at £22,000.


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