A Qingbai molded baluster vase, Song-Yuan dynasty, 13th century

February 19, 2016, 1:51 pm

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A Qingbai molded baluster vase, Song-Yuan dynasty, 13th century. © Christie's 2003

The compressed center of the body with sharp edges bordered by chrysanthemum petal bands, with a herring-bone band at the base of the neck, covered with a thin glaze of good pale blue tone continuing over the everted mouth and stopping at the top of the splayed pedestal foot - 8¼in. (21cm.) high. Lot 261. Estimate $2,500 - $3,500. Price Realized $4,183 

Provenance: Hans A. Öström Collection, Stockholm.
Professor Jan Hellner Collection.
Peter Boode, The Hague. 

Notes: Compare two similar molded Qingbai vases, the first from The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated by J. Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Design, London, 1979, pl. 33a; the second from the Falk Collection, sold in these rooms, 20 September 2001, lot 99. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

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Fabergé, Emotion Rings

February 19, 2016, 2:06 pm

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Fabergé Emotion Ruby Thin Ring, featuring over 100 rubies and set in 18 karat yellow gold.

Fabergé Emotion Ruby rings in maxi and midi sizes.

 

Fabergé Emotion rings in rubies and sapphires.

Fabergé Emotion rings in sapphires.

Fabergé Emotion Blue Sapphire Ring featuring over 300 blue sapphires set in 18 karat white gold.

Fabergé Emotion ring pavé set with 300 unique gems.

A well-painted wucai sleeve vase, Transitional period, ca. 1650

February 19, 2016, 2:13 pm

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A well-painted wucai sleeve vase, Transitional period, ca. 1650. © Christie's 2003

The tall, slightly rounded sides well painted in inky tones of underglaze blue, bright green, yellow and black enamels and iron-red with a scene of the Eight Immortals grouped outside a pavilion set in a mountainous setting, the immortal Shoulao seated astride a crane in flight above - 15¼in. (38.7cm.) high. Lot 302. Estimate $7,000 - $9,000. Price Realized $26,290 

Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 12-13 October 1984, lot 305. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A wucai sleeve vase, Transitional period, ca. 1650

February 19, 2016, 2:22 pm

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A wucai sleeve vase, Transitional period, ca. 1650. © Christie's 2003

The tall, slightly tapering sides vigorously painted with a dense allover design of infant boys climbing the scrolling stems of flowering peonies - 14in. (35.4cm.) high. Lot 303. Estimate $2,000 - $3,000. Price Realized $3,824 

Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, 12 - 13 October 1984, lot 304.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A famille verte rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

February 19, 2016, 2:30 pm

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A famille verte rouleau vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722). © Christie's 2003

Finely painted with a continuous fenced garden scene with groups of ladies engaged in various leisurely activities, including playing the qin, playing weiqi, reading and contemplating a hanging scroll, the shoulder with aquatic scenes set in oval panels reserved on a diamond diaper ground, the neck painted with three young boys playing in a fenced garden setting - 17½in. (44.4cm.) high. Lot 294. Estimate $12,000 - $15,000. Price Realized $20,315 

Notes: The charming decoration depicted on this vase, of women at scholarly pursuits, appears to be unusual subject matter for Kangxi famille verte wares. Adding to the verisimilitude of the scene is the depiction of a qin similar to the black lacquered wood qin of Wanli date (1573-1619) in the present sale, lot 78, and a small red stool in the foreground of the scene which is similar to the rare red lacquered softwood stool of 18th century date, also in this sale, lot 89.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A large famille verte dish, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

February 19, 2016, 2:35 pm

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A large famille verte dish, Kangxi period (1662-1722). © Christie's 2003

With flared, rounded sides rising to an everted rim, painted with a flower-filled basket encircled by two rows of flower-decorated petal-shaped panels below eight auspicious emblems reserved on a band of diaper patterns at the rim, a narrow band of diaper and foliate cartouches below the rim on the reverse, the base painted in underglaze blue with an artemesia leaf within a double circle - 20in. (50.8cm.) diam. Lot 295. Estimate $15,000 - $18,000. Price Realized $17,925 

Notes: A Kangxi dish of very similar design and approximately the same size (52cm. diam.) was included in the exhibition, Chinesische Kunst, Preukischen Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1929, p. 431, no. 1195. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Bartholomeus van der Helst & Ludolf Bakhuysen, Portrait of Geertruida den Dubbelde (detail), 1668

February 20, 2016, 1:23 pm

≫ Next: Bartholomeus van der Helst, Dutch (1613 - 1670), Portrait of a girl (detail), 1645

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Bartholomeus van der Helst & Ludolf Bakhuysen, Portrait of Geertruida den Dubbelde (detail), 1668, oil on canvas, 139 x 125 cm, SK-A-141. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Bartholomeus van der Helst, Dutch (1613 - 1670), Portrait of a girl (detail), 1645

February 20, 2016, 1:43 pm

≫ Next: Bartholomeus van der Helst and Johannes Lingelbach, Portrait of Princess Royal Mary Stuart (1631-1661), detail, 1652

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Bartholomeus van der Helst, Dutch (1613 - 1670), Portrait of a girl (detail), 1645, oil on canvas, 75,4 × 65,3 cm. National Gallery, London.

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Bartholomeus van der Helst and Johannes Lingelbach, Portrait of Princess Royal Mary Stuart (1631-1661), detail, 1652

February 20, 2016, 1:51 pm

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Bartholomeus van der Helst and Johannes Lingelbach, Portrait of Princess Royal Mary Stuart (1631-1661), detail, 1652. Oil on canvas, 199,5 × 170 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Chrysolina

February 20, 2016, 2:10 pm

≫ Next: Tile with arabesque decoration, early 15th century, Ottoman Anatolia (Bursa)

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Chrysolina fastuosa

Chrysolina perforata perforata

 

Chrysolina exanthematica

Chrysolina nikolskyi

 

Chrysolina soiota

Chrysolina carnifex

Tile with arabesque decoration, early 15th century, Ottoman Anatolia (Bursa)

February 20, 2016, 2:31 pm

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Tile with arabesque decoration, early 15th century, Ottoman Anatolia (Bursa). Carved, glaze-painted, and gilded earthenware. 

This tile matches a border frieze adorning the portal of the tomb of Sultan Mehmed I (r. 1403–21) in Bursa, where monuments were badly damaged in an 1855 earthquake. It has a deeply carved pattern of lattices formed by pairs of undulating vine scrolls that meet at regular intervals along the centerline. The interlacing of the arabesque lattices is complex, but clarity is achieved through the use of different colored glazes. The tile predates the period, later in the fifteenth century, of widespread Chinese influence on Ottoman Turkish ceramics. In its deep relief and choice of colors, it exhibits similarities to tiles of Timurid Central Asia dating from the late fourteenth century, a resemblance probably explained by the documented presence of Persian tileworkers in Bursa at that time.

(Source)

Mosque lamp, 1525–40, Ottoman Turkey, Iznik

February 20, 2016, 2:37 pm

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Mosque lamp, 1525–40, Ottoman Turkey, Iznik. Stonepaste; painted in blue under transparent glaze. H. 6 11/16 in. (17 cm). Max. diam. 5 13/16 in. (14.8 cm). Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1959. Accession Number: 59.69.3. © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Earthenware ceramics were made in Iznik as early as the second half of the fourteenth century, but it was not until about one hundred years later that this center began to manufacture pottery in stonepaste. The earliest stonepaste ware made in Iznik was distinguished by an underglaze-painted blue decoration on a white ground. Among the principal characteristics of this ware, known as Abraham of Kutahya (after the artist whose signature appeared on only one piece), are ornately contoured panels with small, highly detailed vegetal patterns.

A variant of the Abraham of Kutahya type, represented by this small mosque lamp, is characterized by a ground completely covered with delicate spiraling stems bearing small flowers. This motif serves as a backdrop for two beautifully executed Arabic inscriptions: "Power belongs to God, the One" (repeated three times on the body of the object) and (on the flaring upper section) "there is no hero except ’Ali; no sword except dhu-l-faqar [’Ali's sword]." During this period in Turkey, pottery continued to imitate metalwork in shape as well as in design. This lamp, however, is one of a number made at this time that have a glass prototype.

Plate, ca. 1580, Iznik, Turkey

February 20, 2016, 2:44 pm

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Plate, ca. 1580, Iznik, Turkey. Fritware, polychrome painted under a transparent glaze.

This dyamically decorated sixteenth-century dish in cobalt blue was produced at the famous kilns at Iznik, in western Anatolia. Stylized variations of lotus petals, ultimately of Chinese inspiration but geometrically patterned into a radiating sunburst of powerful Islamic design, bear witness to one of the most fruitful cultural exchanges in history: the mutual influences flourishing for centuries between the artists, especially potters, of eastern and western Asia. Chinese influences on Islamic art peaked in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when nearly all Asia came under the sway of the Great Khans, the Mongol overlords ruling from Beijing. The Mongol Ilkhans who governed the Near East from their capital at Tabriz, in modern northwestern Iran, imported precious Chinese wares, commanding local Muslim artists to study Chinese technique and design. The sixteenth-century potters of the Ottoman court, though set at the westernmost limit of the Asian world, still pursued—and creatively renewed with great flair and pride—the traditions of the Tabriz school. 

(Source)

Plate, second half of 16th century, Iznik, Turkey

February 20, 2016, 2:49 pm

≫ Next: Bowl Emulating Chinese Stoneware, 9th century, Iraq, probably Basra

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Plate, second half of 16th century, Iznik, Turkey. Fritware, polychrome-painted under transparent glaze.

 This type of polychrome underglaze-painted pottery, often referred to as the "Rhodian type," was produced in Iznik (the Byzantine city of Nicea). This small town in northwestern Turkey was the chief center for the production of ceramic vessels and tiles in the Ottoman empire. Ceramics of the Rhodian type constitute the third and final phase of Iznik ceramics, lasting from ca. 1570 to 1700. They are characterized by the use of a thickly applied "sealing-wax" red glaze, which enriches the palette and stands out in relief, providing the work with rich texture. This plate features two birds resting on gently swaying plants bearing carnations, tulips, and hyacinths. The motif of the flowering plants is a decorative element that is pervasive in Iznik pottery of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the birds are unusual; depictions of birds and animals are rare in Iznik ceramics of this period. A highly conventionalized wave-and-rock pattern circumscribes the broad foliate rim of the plate. Such designs, which were inspired by fifteenth-century Chinese Ming ceramics, enjoyed much popularity in this phase of Iznik production. 

Bowl Emulating Chinese Stoneware, 9th century, Iraq, probably Basra

February 20, 2016, 2:54 pm

≫ Next: Bowl with Arabic Inscription, 10th century, Iran, Nishapur

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Bowl Emulating Chinese Stoneware, 9th century, Iraq, probably Basra. Earthenware; painted in blue on opaque white glaze. H. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm). Diam. 8 in. (20.3 cm). Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1963. Accession Number: 63.159.4 © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ceramics such as this bowl are among the first examples to incorporate calligraphy as the main element of decoration. The Iraqi potters of the ninth century attempted to emulate the luminous quality and hard body of Chinese whitewares by using a tin‑opacified white glaze. The Arabic word ghibta (happiness) is repeated twice in cobalt blue at the center.

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Bowl with Arabic Inscription, 10th century, Iran, Nishapur

February 20, 2016, 3:01 pm

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Bowl with Arabic Inscription, 10th century, Iran, Nishapur. Earthenware; white slip with black-slip decoration under transparent glaze. H. 7 in. (17.8 cm). Diam. 18 in. (45.7 cm). Rogers Fund, 1965. Accession Number: 65.106.2 © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Inscriptions figure prominently in the decoration of objects and buildings throughout the history of Islamic art. Yet it is in Samanid bowls, such as this one, that they were used with an unequalled purity and power, both as calligraphy and to enhance the object they decorate. This bowl is an unusually large, especially fine example of its kind.

The calligraphic decoration on this bowl reads "Planning before work protects you from regret; prosperity and peace," but the shortening, bending, and elongation of the letters has transformed the words into abstract motifs of tremendous power. With its monumental presence and the artful arrangement of its letters, in which vertical flourishes punctuate the horizontal flow of the words at rhythmic intervals, this bowl stands out among the many other inscribed ceramics of the same period.

A three-strand conch pearl and diamond necklace

February 21, 2016, 11:01 am

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Lot 2047. A three-strand conch pearl and diamond necklace. Estimate HK$3,000,000 - HK$5,000,000 ($380,000-650,000). Price Realized HK$4,240,000 ($549,388) © Christie's Image 2014

Composed of one hundred forty-one round multi-coloured conch pearls measuring approximately 3.9 to 12.0 mm, alternating with diamond beads, to the brilliant-cut diamond clasp centering upon a light pink button conch pearl, mounted in platinum, 42.5 cm long

Accompanied by report no. 2155964500 dated 27 February 2014 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that one hundred forty-two conch pearls are natural saltwater pearls. The tested pearls show no indication of treatment

Christie's. HONG KONG MAGNIFICENT JEWELS, 27 May 2014, Convention Hall

Mikimoto specifically for Russia

February 21, 2016, 11:37 am

≫ Next: A peachbloom-glazed brushwasher, tangle xi, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722)

≪ Previous: A three-strand conch pearl and diamond necklace

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Mikimoto specifically for Russia. Diamond, Conch pearl, Melo pearl and South Seas Cultured Pearl pendant

Mikimoto specifically for Russia. Diamond and Conch pearl earrings.

Mikimoto specifically for Russia. Diamond and Conch pearl ring.

Mikimoto specifically for Russia. Diamond and Conch pearl necklace.

 

Mikimoto specifically for Russia. Diamond and Conch pearl earrings.

A peachbloom-glazed brushwasher, tangle xi, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722)

February 21, 2016, 11:57 am

≫ Next: A Langyao bottle vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

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A peachbloom-glazed brushwasher, tangle xi, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722). © Christie's Image 2003

The exterior of the compressed body covered with a glaze of slightly grey-toned rose color with patches of pale yellowish-green mottling ending in a neat line at the white-glazed mouth rim and on the edge of the low, tapering foot, the interior glazed white. 4 5/8in. (11.8cm.) diam. Lot 332. Estimate $6,000 - $8,000. Price Realized $5,975 

Provenance: Clapp & Graham Co., Inc., New York. 

Property from the Hunting Folger Deutsch collection

Notes: This brushwasher is one of the eight classic shapes made for the writing table, ba da ma, or 'Eight Great Numbers'. The peachbloom glaze was reserved almost exclusively for these wares. Two complete assembled sets are in museum collections: one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, rev. ed. illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, rev. ed. 1989, p. 237, and another previously in the collection of the Tsui Museum, Hong Kong, later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3 November 1996, lot 557, and now in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated by J. Ayers, 'The 'Peachbloom' Wares of the Kangxi period (1662-1722)', T.O.C.S., 1999-2000, vol. 64, pp. 31-50. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A Langyao bottle vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

February 21, 2016, 12:03 pm

≫ Next: A Langyao baluster vase, 18th century

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A Langyao bottle vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722) © Christie's Image 2003

Covered with a crackled glaze of bright crushed strawberry tone thinning to a pale celadon at the top of the tall neck, the base covered with a pale blue-green glaze suffused with blackish crackle - 13 7/8in. (35.4cm.) high Lot 327. Estimate $12,000 - $15,000. Price Realized $17,925 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza