18 Auctions


CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART Bonhams, 30 November, Hong Kong


Imperial turquoise-ground underglaze-blue and copper-red ‘dragon’ moonflask, bianhu, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, est HK$1-25 million, Bonhams Hong Kong


Trio of prints by Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), 1935, Showa era, depicting views of the the Azalea Garden at Hakone with Mount Fuji in the background, estimates (each) range from £1,500-£2,000, Bonhams London


Bonhams


PATIENT DETAIL, PERFECT DESIGN JAPANESE ART ACROSS THE CENTURIES Bonhams, 3 November, London


Te sale features more than 400 lots executed in a wide variety of media and styles. Te largest works are two screen paintings, one brings to life a bustling traditional Japanese urban scene and the other is an imaginative vision of the world beyond its shores – a pair of Kano School six-panel screens, mid17th-18th century, (est £20-30,000), depicting a fantasy landscape of Tartar


Mallams


CHINESE WORKS OF ART Mallams, 9 November, Cheltenham


Pair of Chinese hardwood chairs, £6-10,000, Mallams


warriors hunting and hawking in the mountains of northeastern Asia. A rare trio of prints by


Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) feature an iconic sightseeing view – the Azalea Garden at Hakone with Mount Fuji in the background. Also in the sale is a


woodblock print by the enigmatic and sought-after master Sharaku (est £80-100,000), active for


only just over a year in 1794-5, little is still known about this artist. It features Daidozan, an eight-year-old wrestler, parading at the opening ceremony for a sumo tournament. Te craft of maki-e,


decoration with precious metal flakes and powders sprinkled onto lacquer, is represented by several dozen pieces dating from the 18th century to the pre-war


Christies


CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART Christies, 29 November, Hong Kong


Te twice-yearly Asian Art sales comprise of Chinese ceramics, jade, paintings, textiles, furniture and works of art ranging from Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic dynasties together with Japanese ceramics, woodblock prints, furniture, and works of art ranging from Edo and Meiji periods together with ceramics, textiles and works of art from South East Asia. Included in the sale is Part II of the Hicks Collection of textiles and works of art, as well as a private collection of Chinese


Chinese polychrome porcelain vase, Republic period, est £700-1,000, Mallams


furniture, ceramics and works of art from Hazelwood House, Shanghai, circa 1930. Highlights include a


Pair of Korean celadon vases, Goryeo, 12th/14th century, est £600-800, Mallams


ASIAN ART | NOVEMBER 2022 |


Republic-period vase with a provenance of being purchased by the vendor’s father in Shanghai circa 1935/1940 after travelling to China to join the International Police Force in the late 1920s, a pair of Korean celadon vases from Hazelwood House in Shanghai from 1930s, and a pair of Chinese hardwood chairs, also from Hazelwood House in Shanghai.


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Featured in this sale are two single-owner sales: classical Chinese furniture from the Tseng Collection and Te Chang Wei-Hwa Collection of Archaic Jades from the Qin and Han Dynasties. Te furniture sale is offering 28 lots of huanghuali furniture from the late Ming dynasty with some of the lots previously acquired from the famous Museum of Chinese Classical Furniture in Renaissance, California, whose collection sold at Christie’s New York in September 1996. Highlights include a huanghuali circular incense stand, xiangji (est HK$ 6-10 million) and a single plank huanghuali recessed trestle-leg table, qiaotou’an (est HK$8-12 million). Te Chang Wei-Hwa Collection


offers 73 lots of archaic jades from the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC- AD 220) dynasties. Highlights include a carving of a mythical beast, bixie (est HK$8-12 million) and a white jade reticulated ‘phoenix’ plaque (est HK$2.2-3.5 million). Ceramic highlights from the sale


include a carved ‘dragon’ celadon- glazed meiping (est HK$40-50 million), a pair of doucai waterpots, Yongzheng period (est HK$12-15 million), an early Ming-dynasty blue and white fruit bowl, Xuande six-character mark (est HK$8-12 million). Other lots include a pair of Qianlong-period (1736-1795) cloisonné enamel peacock censers (est HK$2-3 million), and an imperial tianhuang rectangular seal also from the Qianlong period, estimated at HK$2-3 million.


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period, including a miniature box and cover by Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891), widely considered the greatest lacquerer of all time, (est £5-6,000). Masterpieces from the


Meiji era include a vase by Namikawa Sosuke (1847- 1910) of Tokyo depicting a pair of egrets, a perfect example of his acute observation and skilled technique (est £30-40,000).


Te highlight of Bonhams Hong Kong ceramics sale is Te Liddell Moonflask, which will be offered on 30 November, and has an estimate of HK$18-25 million. Te name ‘moonflask’, baoyueping, meaning ‘embracing the moon’, is inspired by its flat-sided but full-bodied form which resembles a full moon. Tis type of vessel has a long history dating back to the Song and Yuan dynasties, when ceramic flasks of a similar shape would be tied to the side of a horse saddle. During the Ming dynasty, it evolved into a highly decorative ware, the style of which was later reproduced during the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods. However,


it was not until the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, who admired styles from the past, when the moonflask regained dominance. New shapes and styles were invented as the Imperial kiln experimented with new firing approaches, building a legacy of not just underglaze- blue and copper-red moonflasks, but also a handful of coloured- glazed (such as yellow and lime-green) examples. Among them, the colour turquoise is the rarest of all. Tis moonflask was originally acquired by Captain Charles Oswald Liddell in China, where he lived and conducted business from 1877-1913. For nearly four decades,


Liddell had formed his collection by purchasing mostly from two significant sources: the collection of Prince Chun, the last Regent of the Qing dynasty; and from the collection of the private secretary and adviser to statesman Li Hong Zhang. Liddell, who had a discerning eye, understood from early on the distinction between the extraordinary Imperial porcelain and the export Chinese wares decorating the interior of many great English country houses at the time. His collection, which was then


carried back to the UK and exhibited, was highly regarded as one of the earliest English collections to represent a true ‘Chinese taste’.


Pair of cloisonné enamel ‘peacock’ censers, Qianlong period (1736-1795), length 44.1 cm, est HK$2-3 million, Christie’s Hong Kong


Huanghuali circular incense stand, xiangji 17th century, height 97 cm, top panel diam. 41 cm. est HK$6-10 million, Christie’s Hong Kong


Carved ‘dragon’ celadon-glazed meiping, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795), height 33 cm, est HK$50-80 million, Christie’s Hong Kong


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