26 23rd June 2012 auction reports


JAPANESE WORKS OF ART Quietly side-stepping the cataloguing that had seen it described simply as “a very unusual dome-top trunk inlaid with mother of pearl, approx. 39in. A/F”, the choice Japanese object offered in the regions last month was a Momoyama period makie and inlaid coffer sold by John Goodwin at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern on May 25. Being quite unlike any material in


the West, lacquer was highly prized in the courts of Europe for its hardness, lustre and decorative potential. These late 16th and early 17th century export wares, often called Nanban lacquerware, were named after nanbanjin (Southern barbarians), a term used to describe Europeans in the period. Typically they combine western


forms with decoration of flora and fauna derived from both Japanese and foreign traditions (the profuse use of mother-of-pearl reflects the influence of Indo-Portuguese objects made in Gujarat, India). That these differed from indigenous Japanese furniture is apparent in the lack of appropriate terminology: Japanese craftsmen created the word kanabokogata (literally ‘boxes in fish- sausage shape’) to describe domed coffers such as this. A good photograph posted on the


internet can be a very powerful thing. Commission bids dictated that the auctioneers could open their account at £4500, followed immediately by internet bidding to just over £30,000. At that stage the room had its


first opportunity to bid and battle commenced between a determined specialist collector and a UK internet bidder. The latter won at £44,000 – a good result considering the circumstances, but one that would doubtless have been bettered in a specialist sale. Two exceptional examples of Meiji


cloisonné commanded five-figure sums for the Penzance saleroom Lays on May 17-18 and Adam Partridge of Macclesfield on May 25.


CHINESE SILVER A peculiarity of Chinese monetary history was the almost complete absence of coins made of precious metals. For over 2000 years, copper coins dominated the monetary scene in China, with paper money invented at a surprisingly early date to allow for large transactions. Nevertheless, the use of silver ingots,


their issue controlled by tradesmen, merchants and bankers rather than the state, were important in trading deals and used to back the limited confidence in paper money. These ingots were repeatedly melted


down and recast so most are 19th century in date. The example seen at Charterhouse in Sherbourne on April 27 was a typical shoe or boat shape, but large at 60oz, and included a range of


Left: auctioneer Chris Maulkin pictured alongside the Nanban lacquerware coffer sold for a surpirse £44,000 at John Goodwin of Malvern on May 23.


Below: cloisonné vase by Hayashi Kodenji, the mark inset, £12,000 at Adam Partridge.


Above and below: two views of a scroll painting, £49,600 at Artem.


David Lay was selling a small, 2½in


(6.5cm) jar and cover by Namikawa Yasuyuki on behalf of a local woman. This brass and enamel vessel by perhaps the most famous of all cloisonné workshops was decorated with chrysanthemum and stylised flowers and thought to be a relatively early piece – from the 1880s. Estimated at £1000-2000, it ended


up as the sale’s star performer selling to a buyer in Cheshire at £10,500. The maker of a 7in (18cm) high


baluster-form vase decorated with blossoming tree between streams, on a dark blue ground, seen in Macclesfield was unidentified by the saleroom, but the four-character mark to the base was read by specialists as Hayashi Kodenji, another of the small group of cloisonné makers whose market remains very strong. Such a highly esteemed maker


(a major piece by the artist sold for $105,000 at Bonhams New York earlier this year) was enough to see it pass expectations of £1000-1500 and bring £12,000 on the phone from a London dealer.


Right: Namikawa Yasayuki cloisonné jar and cover, £10,500 at Lays.


different characters relating to its weight and manufacture. It has a scrap value of under £1000 but, unlike many European ingots, these are increasingly collectable at prices way above melt. It sold to an internet bidder at £15,000. Chinese silver of a different kind


excelled at Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet on May 15 when a 15in (38cm) high, double-walled pedestal bowl sold for a double-estimate £16,500. Made by Wang Hing, a firm active


in Guangdong and Hong Kong in the late 19th and early 20th century, this typically exuberant creation adorned with dragons and peony had been given to the Honourable Edward Osborne, the great uncle of George Osborne, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, in


NEW FACES The potential rewards offered by the Chinese market continues to attract new players to the auction scene. This spring saw the arrival of two new


London firms – Artem with a sale at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, Mayfair, on May 18 and the Anglo-Chinese firm Jubilee Antiques & Art Auction, whose inaugural sale the previous week was held at the Bloomsbury Hotel. A pen-and-ink scroll painting possibly


dating from the 17th/18th century provided Artem with over a third of their £125,000 takings from a debut outing of 92 lots. Entitled The Scroll of Endless Stream and Mountains, it bore the signature for the artist and scholar Wang Yian, also known as Wang Yuanzhao (1598-1677). Featuring various collectors seals, some


of an Imperial nature, including a four- character mark translating as ‘The Rare Collection from the Imperial Household Department (Neifu Zhenmi)’, the 30ft 1in (9.18m) long scroll was mounted with a pale celadon jade toggle clasp, similarly marked, and fitted within a contemporary zitan wood case. Estimated at £6000- 8000, it sold at £49,600 (including premium). Artem will be holding quarterly sales of Chinese works of art with the next one scheduled for September. Based at South Molton Street, on May


12 Jubilee became the first Chinese auction house to conduct sales in the West. The desire to sell in London reflects the preference of Chinese collectors for objects sourced in the West where provenance helps protect against fakes. A choice entry to this debut sale


Above: Chinese 60oz silver ingot, £15,000 at Charterhouse.


1913 on his retirement from the wharf and dockside warehousing company, the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Co Ltd.


was this white jade brush washer with russet inclusions in the base, carved with lotus flowers and stem. Purchased from Marchant, and possibly of the Yuan dynasty period, it sold within hopes at £56,000. The surprise performer was a pair of gilt


iron-red vases, decorated with figures in the Qianlong style, that went to a phone bidder in China at £60,000, more than ten times the top estimate.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88