22 Auction Previews


SOTHEBY’S The Collection of Stephen Junkunc III: Chinese Buddhist


Sculpture Wednesday, 12 September, 10am, 18 lots, $5,600,000-8,800,000


Te fine group of sculpture is from the large and renowned collection of Chinese art assembled by the Chicago manufacturer of precision parts for airplanes, Stephen Junkunc III (1904- 1978). Junkunc did most of his buying from the 1930s to the 1950s, with a few pieces acquired in the 1960s, from all the most eminent Asian art dealers of the time: Bluett’s and Sparks in London, Alice Boney, CT Loo, Nagatani, JT Tai and Yamanaka in New York. Although a number of pieces from the collection have been dispersed over the years, the sculpture collection has largely been kept intact. Sculpture has been one of the most historically important and yet undervalued areas of Chinese art, but there has recently been a renewed interest from new collectors. Te most spectacular sculpture of group


the limestone, Bodhisattva, is a Tang-dynasty,


standing figure of a with polychrome


Grey limestone figure of Avalokiteshvara, early Tang dynasty, 8th century, height 67 cm, est $1.5/2.5 million, Christie’s


Qianlong-period (1736-1795) white jade marriage bowl, of good colour and carved on the underside with auspicious motifs was in fact used as a wedding gift from a groom to his bride in the 20th century (est $150/250,000).


A Qing-dynasty


white jade boulder carved with a scene of the Buddhist monk Da Mo meditating in a cave, with an inscription,


is carved to take


maximum advantage of its wedge shape (est $100/150,000).


CHRISTIE’S Fine Chinese Ceramics


and Works of Art Thursday, 13 September, 11:15am, Friday, 14 September, 10am and 2pm 307 lots, $11,270,000-17,094,000


Te first session of this sale, comprising 36 lots of archaic material, including 19 other bronzes follows the gui. A late Shang-dynasty, 13th/12th century BC fang yi, published by Wang Tao in 2002, is extremely rare. It bears a single clan sign in the shape of a ding vessel (est $800/1,200,000). Te focus here is on two early 8th-century,


Tang-dynasty, grey


limestone Buddhist figures of great beauty and wonderful history that have previously been a pair, but will be sold separately here. One is a figure of Avalokitesvara and the other of


$1,500/2,500,000 each). have a very provenance,


Mahasthamaprapta (est First


published by Oswald Siren in 1925, they were also exhibited several times and


distinguished beginning with the


Grenville L Winthrop (1864-1943) Collection in New York, acquired prior to 1925, followed by the James W and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, and passing through the hands of several of the most famous Chinese art dealers of the 20th century, including Yamanaka & Co, Frank Caro, and Eskenazi Ltd. Tey were sold in these rooms on 16 September 1988, lot 284.


ASIAN ART SEPTEMBER 2018


Grey limestone figure of Mahasthamaprapta, early Tang dynasty, 8th century, height 67 cm, est $1.5/2.5 million, Christie’s


Although most of the value of the sale is concentrated in the bronzes and sculpture,


all categories are


represented, with half ceramics and half works of art sourced from private collections. A Zhengde mark and period yellow-ground blue and white


‘gardenia’ dish (1506-1521) is one of the ceramic highlights (est $100/150,000).


pigments. It is very complete and graceful. Te Bodhisattva had been in the collection of noted American collector Mrs Christian Holmes, sold at Parke Bernet Galleries in April 1942 (lot 386). Junkunc bought it from Nagatani, Inc, in Chicago, in 1962 (est $1,500/2,500,000). A large and imposing Tang-dynasty limestone head of the Buddha, one of the largest known, is also beautifully carved and has a very serene expression (est $2/3 million). It was at Tongying & Company and then purchased by the collector Jay C Leff (1925-2000) at a sale at Parke Bernet Galleries in March 1955 (lot 301). Another head, this one of a Luohan sculpted out of brown conglomerate limestone, dates to the Song/early Ming dynasty, a period when Luohan figures gained in popularity and were increasingly produced in ceramic,


Archaic bronze ritual vessel (zun), Shang dynasty, Yinxu period, height 34.6 cm, est $650/850,000, Sotheby’s


acquired them at a sale of Whitridge’s collection at Parke Bernet Galleries in 1939.


SOTHEBY’S The Tang Hung and Feng Bi-che Collection of Chinese Paintings and


Calligraphy Thursday, 13 September, 10am, 90 lots, $2,500,000-3,500,000


Limestone figure of a Bodhisattva, Tang dynasty, height 100 cm, est $1.5/2.5 million, Sotheby’s


stucco and stone. It was part of the Collection of Ambassador Angus Ward and acquired in China in 1931 and bought by Stephen Junkunc III from Richard Ravenal Asian Gallery in 1969 (est $150/250,000).


Important Chinese Art Wednesday, 12 September, 11am and 2pm, 300 lots, $10,600,000-15,300,000


SOTHEBY’S


While Qing porcelain (there are 20 lots from the Stephen Junkunc III Collection) comprises half the sale, most of the top lots are drawn from other categories,


all of which are


included. Te other half is works of art. Here too a very important Shang-


dynasty, Yinxu period, archaic bronze zun from a Japanese private collection, formerly in the Nagao Museum in Tokyo and widely published in Japan, Taiwan and China since 1957 takes pride of place (est $650/850,000). Tis form of zun is relatively rare, and the casting is excellent (est $650/850,000). Also from a private collection in Japan and published there several times since 1961, is a very lovely Tang-dynasty, blue and amber-glazed,


pottery figure of a


court lady seated on a stool. Te liberal use of blue glaze adds significantly to her rarity and appeal (est $500/700,000). A pair of copper-red relief moulded


‘Chilong’ bottle vases, Kangxi marks and period,


from the Junkunc


Copper-red relief-Moulded ‘Chilong’ bottle vases. Kangxi marks and period, height 22.3cm, est $1/1.5 million, Sotheby’s


Collection are extremely rare – no others have been published – and have an interesting history. In the collection of British collector George R Davies, which was purchased by the dealer Edgar Ezekiel Gorer and published and exhibited at Dreicer & Co, New York in 1913, they were subsequently in the Collection of William Whitridge and in the 1930 exhibition and catalogue of his collection of Chinese pottery and porcelain at the Baltimore Museum of Art (est $100/150,000). Junkunc


Tang Hung (1926-2018) was a Chinese painter and student of Yu Fei’an (1888-1959) and later of the famous and very prolific 20th-century painter, Zhang Daqian (1899-1983). Born in Beijing, Tang moved first to Taiwan in 1949, then to Hong Kong in the early 1960s. Tere he founded the San Chuan Art Society to promote Chinese ink art and organized many exhibitions for its members. He continued to paint once he moved to the US in the late 1990s. His wife, Feng Bi-che (1916- 2009) was an artist too and after moving to Hong Kong in 1946 also became Zhang’s student. She married Tang in the mid 1960s. Tey developed a close relationship with Zhang and there are therefore about 20 works of his dedicated to both or one or the other of them. Tese are the top lots in the sale. A few also came from Yu Fei’an. Te majority


Blue and amber-glazed pottery figure of a court lady, Tang dynasty, height 29.3 cm, est $500/700,000, Sotheby’s


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