42 New York Auctions / Exhibitions


Gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni on a lion throne, Tibet, 14th century, height 32.5 cm, est


$800/1,200,000, Sotheby’s


were acquired directly from the artists by this well-known Taiwan calligrapher (1902-1990) and have sterling provenance.


Asian Art Saturday, 24 March, 10am 380 lots, $1,300,000-2,000,000


SOTHEBY’S Saturday at Sotheby’s:


sculpture was in an Italian private collection in 1976 and sold in these rooms in 2004 (est 1,000,000- 1,500,000). A very elegant 13th- century bronze figure of Appar from Southern India has a distinguished provenance. It was in the collection of Dr JR Belmont, Basel, before 1968, in the Pan-Asian


Collection, 1968-


1983, when it was on loan to the Denver Art Museum, 1977-1983, and sold at Christie’s New York in 2011 (est $400/600,000). Himalayan gilt-bronzes are well


represented, too. Te star of a group of four gilt bronzes from a Swiss private collection, a 14th-century, gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni on a lion throne from Tibet was acquired in Hong Kong, 1991-1995 (est $800,000-1,200,000). Tree other gilt-bronzes


from the Edwin and


Cherie Silver collection are also very fine.


SOTHEBY’S The Chew Family Collection of Chinese


SOTHEBY’S Fine Classical Chinese


Paintings and Calligraphy Friday, 23 March, 10am & 2pm Approximately 235 lots, $7,200,000- 10,900,000


Te sale is evenly divided between calligraphy and painting. Over 60 percent are modern works with numerous works by Zhang Daqian, Pu Ru, and other major modern artists. Te two top lots are hanging scrolls in ink and colour on paper by late Qing master Wu Changshuo (1844-1927). One depicts Plum Blossom,


the Ganoderma. other Pine and Each has a


Paintings & Calligraphy Thursday, 22 March, 5pm 76 lots, $4,600,000-6,600,000


Joan Wu, the last daughter of a general who was assassinated in the early 1930s went to the US, where she studied at USC and met and married Tomas Chew. Tey settled in Carmel where they started the China Art Center and ran the Dolores Lodge. Tey met and got to know the famous and very prolific modern artist Zhang Daqian (1899- 1993,) when he lived in Carmel in the 1960s and 1970s. Te Chews received two classical paintings and eleven of his own works from Zhang and


acquired others from local


collectors and from sources in Taiwan. After many years abroad as a follower of Mother Teresa,


their


daughter, Frances Chew aka Sister Asha returned to Carmel to look after her mother until her death in 2014, and passed away in 2017. Practically their entire collection is offered here. A large horizontal Zhang Daqian Splashed Landscape painting in ink and colour on paper, signed Yuanweng and dated wushen (1968), now the most sought after type among his works, and which has never been exhibited or published, is likely to attract the most attention (est $1,200,000-1,800,000). Several unusual classical paintings will also be of interest. A landscape album of eight leaves inspired by Song and Yuan masters in ink on paper by early Qing artist, Yun Shouping (1633- 1690), considered to be one of the Six Masters of the Qing dynasty, bears many important inscriptions including by artists Pu Ru (1896- 1963) and Zhang Daqian (est $240/280,000).


ASIAN ART MARCH 2018


$400/600,000 estimate. A calligraphy handscroll of poems in cursive script by the eminent Ming-dynasty calligrapher and calligrapher Wen Peng (1498-1573), son of the artist Wen Zhengming, dated 1560, has seals of the artist and colophons by Xiang Hanping (1890-1978) and Wang Yunzhong (1873-1918). Te estimate is $120/180,000. Tere are several sequences of single owner Chinese-American collections of paintings. Te 12 lots from the Wellington and Juliana Koo Collection combine paintings and calligraphy, and a set of six, framed Su Shi Poems in Running Script in ink on paper by Zeng Guofan (1811-1872) is very interesting because the artist had given it to Li Hanzhang, the elder brother of Li Hongzhang who became Prime Minister (est $60/80,000). Te classical and modern painting collection of noted scholar and professor of Chinese art history at the University of Kansas, Dr Chu-tsing-Li, is divided between this sale and Saturday’s (30 lots in each). Many modern paintings from the Tai Jingnong Family collection


Tis sale has continued to be very well received, and this time it will proceed without a session break. About three- quarters (300 lots) is devoted to Chinese ceramics and works of art with some furniture (12 lots) and a few textiles (10 Qing-dynasty dragon robes, framed kesi panels and an 18th- century, Qing-dynasty carpet). A small selection of 30 snuff bottles as well as a similar number of jades and hardstone carvings rounds out the Chinese works of art section. One of the earlier pieces of furniture is an 18th/19th-century, Qing-dynasty, huanghuali Ming-style recessed-leg


table form stand (est


$15/25,000). However, an early 20th- century pair of huanghuali horseshoe- back armchairs are likely to be of almost as much interest simply because huanghuali is so favoured by Chinese collectors (est $10/15,000). Te ceramics range in date from


Tang dynasty pottery to porcelain from the Republic Period, with a majority of Qing porcelain with a few from the von Henneken collection. A Qianlong mark and period blue and white stemcup with Tibetan


‘Lança’ characters is very attractive (est $15/25,000). Tis year Sotheby’s has two selling exhibitions.Te first, Luis Chan: Te World Comes to Him, is devoted to the work of painter, teacher, curator and cultural advocate Luis Chan (1905- 1995). Born in Panama, he moved to Hong Kong at the age of five and barely left it for the rest of his life. His work was very influential in the development of 20th-century Chinese art and reflected the numerous outside influences he was exposed to through his reading of international art journals. Te 29 paintings spanning six decades range from Western-style oils and watercolour,


to Chinese ink


landscapes and collages and encapsulate life in Hong Kong during Chan’s lifetime. Te second exhibition, The Great


Within, features 30 photographs chosen by author and photography historian, Clark Worswick. Worswick had a passion for 19th- century photos of India, and started collecting them on his travels there in 1959. Tese images taken by photographers engaged by the Raj caught India’s landscape just before it began to modernise. As many have deteriorated or disappeared, Worswick developed a process to digitally conserve the image and has reprinted them so they will last for a long time. Tey are available for sale in three different sets of sizes.


ANNUAL SPRING SALE


Gianguan Auction 10 March


Sui-dynasty, gilt-bronze altarpiece of Buddha Maitreya with seven Buddha on lotus blossom thrones overhead, Gianguan Auctions


Chinese Buddhist devotional art lead the Spring Sale at Gianguan auctions. Highlights include a Sui-dynasty gilt-bronze alterpiece of Buddha Maitreya, that suggests the Seven Buddhas on the Great Tower of Asoka, a Northern Wei dynasty Buddhist stele, and a Buddhist gilt- bronze shrine from the Western Wei period. Other works of art include a selection of Chinese scroll paintings, carved jade, and Chinese porcelains, along with a collection of zisha teapots and stone seals. • More information on gianguanauctions.com


DANGEROUS LIAISONS REVISITED


Tis exhibition revolves around an early 15th-century Chinese handscroll in the museum’s collection, Ming Huang and Yang Guifei Listening to Music. It is a about a tragic Chinese love story in which an emperor abandoned his state responsibly for the company for a woman he loved. Te emperor, who ruled from 712-756, had organised a restructuring of the corrupt and inefficient government offices and returned power to the Emperor. He had 30 sons and 29 daughters, but after the death of his empress, Wang, he became infatuated with one of his son’s wife, Yang Guifei. Tis fascination eventually


caused much discontent, especially within the Court. In essence, he no longer paid any attention to his role as supreme authority and wanted to spend his time with her, especially while listening to music played by an all-female orchestra. Te widespread discontent over his dereliction of his duties caused a provincial governor An Lushan to revolt. He did so, declared himself the first emperor of Yan and began his march on the capital, Chang’an.


Ming Huang was forced to flee to Sichuan, together with his entire family, including Yang Guifei, but the entire entourage were blocked by Tibetan soldiers. Te soldiers,


allies of An, demanded her death, at which the emperor, now weeping profusely, ordered his chief eunuch to strangle her with a piece of yellow silk. A year later, he was allowed to return to Chang’an (present-day Xian), where he remained as ‘Retired Emperor’ for the rest of his life. Te topic of this tragic love story is not unfamiliar to us. Te story of lovers being torn apart is told from ancient times, and seen in the West as Dido and Aeneas and Romeo and Juliette. Apart from the centrepiece Ming-dynasty handscroll, the museum has added some 25 contextual works of art, including numerous musical instruments, a Tang sancai- glazed equestrienne figure, other tomb sculptures, and prints by Shunman, Okumura Masanobu, Hokkei and Harunobu. During the Tang dynasty, music was an important item at court and many Tang tombs have unearthed polychrome- painted ceramic models of musicians – most of whom are females. Te subject is universal and when love takes over, it seems to be that common sense and logic are nowhere in sight. Martin Barnes Lorber


• Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts. Trough 22 July. Worcesterart.org


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Ming Huang and Yang Guifei Listening to Music, (detail), early Ming dynasty, circa 1368-1400, ink and light colour on silk, Worcester Art Museum


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