Circular Covered Box with Floral and Lingzhi Mushroom Scrolls, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), 16th century. Fahua-type ware; porcelain with underglaze incised decoration. H. 6.6 cm (2 5/8 in.); diam. 15.8 cm (6 1/4 in.). Bequest of Grace Brown Palmer, 1967.111a-b. Art Institute of Chicago ©2015 The Art Institute of Chicago.
Bottle-Shaped Vase with Flaring Mouth, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Porcelain with turquoise glaze. H. 23.9 cm (9 7/16 in.); diam. 13.7 cm (5 3/8 in.). Bequest of Henry C. Schwab, 1941.666. Art Institute of Chicago ©2015 The Art Institute of Chicago.
Hermès 30cm Matte White Himalayan Nilo Crocodile Birkin Bag with Palladium Hardware, R Square, 2014. Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000.
DALLAS, TX.- The first luxury accessories auction of the season will capture the attention of any collector or lover of Hermès and high-end handbags with a unique offering during the Winter Luxury Accessories Auction Feb. 2-3 in New York City.
One handbag that is expected to receive much warranted attention will be the Hermès 30 cm Matte White Himalayan Nilo Crocodile Birkin bag (est. $60,000-80,000). The white Himalayans are the most prized coloration for Hermès bags and this item is in pristine condition. It includes Palladium hardware, a flap top with turnlock closure as well as two keys, lock and clochette.
"Hermès is the hands-down leader in the luxury accessories category for handbags. The exclusive nature of this product line, especially the Birkin and Kelly handbags, makes the Winter Luxury Accessories event a great opportunity for discerning buyers and collectors," said Diane D'Amato, Director of Luxury Accessories at Heritage.
A limited-edition Hermès Ghillies Birkin in pristine condition (est. $60,000-80,000), which is the first to be done entirely in crocodile making it an extremely rare piece also will be available. Beside a multitude of Hermès options, one of the rarest colorations of the Petit Malle bag by Louis Vuitton (est. $3,000-4,000), - reportedly one of only 13 produced will be available.
Hermès Limited Edition 35cm Matte & Shiny Colvert Porosus Crocodile Ghillies Birkin Bag with Palladium Hardware, T, 2015. Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000.
Louis Vuitton Pink & Black Epi Electrique Leather Petite Malle Bag. Estimate: $3,000 - $4,000.
Other handbags that surely will draw much attention during the event include but are not limited to:
Hermès Special-Order Horseshoe 30 cm Blue Electric & Blue Atoll Epsom Leather Birkin Bag with Gold Hardware (est. $20,000-24,000), the Horseshoe-stamped bags are special orders which are only offered to the very top Hermès VIP clients.
Hermès Special Order Horseshoe 30cm Blue Electric & Blue Atoll Epsom Leather Birkin Bag with Gold Hardware, T, 2015. Estimate: $20,000 - $24,000.
Hermès Limited Edition 35 cm So Black Calf Box Leather Birkin Bag with PVD Hardware (est. $20,000-24,000), the So black bags have become the most desirable limited editions in Hermès' repertoire.
Hermès Limited Edition 35cm So Black Calf Box Leather Birkin Bag with PVD Hardware, O Square, 2011. Estimate: $20,000 - $24,000.
Hermès 45 cm Blue Nuit Togo Leather Shark Mou Bolide Bag with Palladium Hardware (est. $16,000-20,000), the Shark Bolide is a new style from Hermès' men's runway collection, only produced this season in extremely limited numbers.
Hermès 45cm Blue Nuit Togo Leather Shark Mou Bolide Bag with Palladium Hardware, X, 2016. Estimate: $16,000-20,000.
Louis Vuitton Limited Edition Les Extraordinaires Collection Black Mink & Swarovski Crystal NN14 Feline PM Bag, 2/10 (est. $6,000-8,000), this bag is an extremely rare – one of only 10 ever made – Louis Vuitton bag from Marc Jacobs' final runway show at the house.
Louis Vuitton Limited Edition Les Extraordinaires Collection Black Mink & Swarovski Crystal NN14 Feline PM Bag, 2/10. Estimate: $6,000-8,000.
One of the most eye-catching bags in the offering will be the Hermès Customized 28 cm Black Calf Box Leather & Toile Retourne Kelly Bag with Gold Hardware (est. $6,000-8,000) which features custom hand-painted artwork on the front Toile panel depicting a Tiger, and the rear Toile panel featuring a hand-painted serpent. The bag is signed "MB 5" on the left gusset under the Sangle. Please note Hermès did not create this artwork and was not involved with the custom painted design on this lot.
Hermès Customized 28cm Black Calf Box Leather & Toile Retourne Kelly Bag with Gold Hardware, K Circle, 1981; Artwork 2016. Estimate: $6,000-8,000.
This zun, or wine vessel, is cast in the shape of an owl whose head forms a removable lid. A scaled snake with a tiger’s head forms the pinion of each wing. The snake’s body outlines the curve of the wings, which terminate in a clawed and plumed bird. On the breast is another composite creature made up of a cicada’s body with a bovine head capped with horns in the shape of two small dragons. The owl as both a night bird and a bird of prey was a symbol of death and ill omen in later Chinese folk tradition. Although unlucky to the living because it foretells death, the owl may have been considered suitable as a motif for vessels intended to feast the dead. Combining it with the cicada, a natural symbol of death and transformation, may have increased it potency.
Mengjia Chen, A Corpus of Chinese Bronzes in American Collections, 1-2 (Tokyo: Kyu¯ko Shoin, 1977), 127, 964–65, ill.
Mimi Gardner Gates, The Communion of Scholars: Chinese Art at Yale, exh. cat. (New York: China House Gallery, 1982), 26–29, no. 4, ill.
Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 284, ill.
Susan B. Matheson, Art for Yale: A History of the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2001), 80, 82, fig. 72.
David Ake Sensabaugh, The Scholar as Collector: Chinese Art at Yale, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2004), 12–13, 42, no. 4, fig. 3.
Konoe Nobutada (Japanese, 1565–1614), Waka Byobu (Poetry Screen), ca. 1610–14, Momoyama period (1573–1615). Six-panel folding screen: ink on paper. Without mounting (each panel ): 141.8 -142.2 x 48.7-54.5 cm (55 13/16 - 56 x 19 3/16 - 21 7/16 in.), when folded overall size: ca. 55 13/16 x 21 1/2 x 8 inches. Purchased with a gift from Peggy and Richard M. Danziger, LL.B. 1963, and the Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund, 2010.39.1. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Taniguchi Kengo, Ruro No Sengoku Kizoku Konoe Sakihisa: Tenka Itto Ni Honrosareta Shogai, 1213 (Tokyo: Chukoshinsho, 1994).
Joshua S Mostow, Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996), 198–200, 301–3, 307–9, 354–56, 378–80.
A Waka Anthology: Grasses of Remembrance, 2 vols. (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2006), vol 2., p. 42.
Tamiko Maeda, Sanmyakuin Konoe Nobutada: Nokosareta Tegami Kara (Kyoto, Japan: Shibunkaku Shuppan, 2006), 1–260.
Maeda Tamiko, Sanmyakuin Konoe Nobutada (Kyoto: Shibunkaku Shuppan, 2006).
Tokyo National Museum, Sho no Shiho: Nihon to Chugoku Twin Peaks: The Finest of Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Newspaper, 2006), 288–89, 352–53, 381, 424, no. 175, ill.
Edward Kamens, “Ink Play,” Yale Review 99, no. 2 (2011): 51–74, ill
Censer in the Form of an Archaic Bronze Vessel, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Dehua ware (blanc de chine); porcelain. 11.4 x 9.8 x 7.4 cm (4 1/2 x 3 7/8 x 2 15/16 in.). Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, 1925.1482. Art Institute of Chicago © 2015 The Art Institute of Chicago
Bowl with Dragons, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722). Porcelain painted in overglaze enamel. H. 7.6 cm (3 in.); diam. 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.). Bequest of Russell Tyson, 1964.635. Art Institute of Chicago © 2015 The Art Institute of Chicago
Jina Rishabhanatha, 6th–7th century C.E., Gupta (ca. 320–600 C.E.) to Pala period (ca. 750–1100). Black chlorite stone, 66 x 40.6 x 12.7 cm (26 x 16 x 5 in.). Purchased with a gift from Steven M. Kossak, B.A. 1972, 2000.36.1. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Trumpet-Mouthed Vase, early 14th century, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), Longquan ware; stoneware with green glaze, 37.5 x 15.9 cm (14 3/4 x 6 1/4 in.) Diameter at Base: 7.6 cm (3 in.) Stand: 6.03 x 15.56 cm (2 3/8 x 6 1/8 in.), Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Bequest of Mrs. William H. Moore, 1955.4.64. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
The complex of kilns near Longquan in southern Zhejiang Province had started production during the tenth century, but it was only after the retreat of the Song court to Hangzhou in the twelfth century that Longquan became a major center of ceramic production. The Longquan wares were distinguished by their thick translucent glaze, green jade-like color and texture, and fine, light gray body. The kilns achieved a height of production during the thirteenth century, both for the domestic and the export markets. After the Mongol conquest of China and the establishment of Yuan rule, the kilns continued to produce ceramics, particularly large plates and vases for export. There was a taste for more elaborate decoration, and the potters met that demand by using mold-impressed motifs applied to the surface as seen in the floral scroll of this vase.
Mimi Gardner Gates, The Communion of Scholars: Chinese Art at Yale, exh. cat. (New York: China House Gallery, 1982), 79–80, no. 33, ill.
Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 294, ill.
Lot 1411. A bronze circular 'Cloud and Nebulaer' mirror, Mid Western Han dynasty, 2nd century BC. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 10,625. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
Crisply cast, the upright knob formed by a cluster of tall pointed nipples set within a raised border of linked swirls, the main field with four 'stars' with pointed nipple centers alternating with groupings of further nipples joined by scrolls, all within rope-twist borders, and a raised outer border of linked arcs, which like the 'stars', center of the knob and inner arc border, is silvery in contrast to the grey patina of the surrounding decoration, 5¼ in. (13.4 cm.) diam., ¼ in. (.5 cm.) thick, box - 363.7g
Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1990.
Note: Mirrors of this type are known as 'cloud and nebulae' mirrors because of the type of decoration - clusters of nipples connected by scrolls, which may represent clouds. Compare the mirror of this type illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 132-3, no. 30. (Fig. 1) Another mirror of this type in the Sumitomo Collection, is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Chinese Bronze Mirrors, Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 8 January - 6 March 2011, no. 23. See, also, the similar mirror illustrated by J. Rawson and E. Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Oriental Ceramic Society, Hong Kong, 1990, no. 161, where the authors note that mirrors of this type were common in China and have been found in various provinces including Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hunan and Jiangsu.
Christie's. Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Center
Lot 1413. A bronze circular 'Dragon and Arc' mirror, Late Warring States Period-Early Western Han dynasty, circa 3rd century BC. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 3,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
Thinly cast, the back with a central loop encircled by a patterned band and a plain concave band, the main field with three dragons with scrolling bodies and long tails reserved on a patterned ground of lozenges filled with scrolls and granulation within the twelve arcs of the scalloped-edged outer border - 4¾ in. (11.9 cm.) diam., 1/16 in. (.2 cm.) thick, box - 125.4g
Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1988.
Note: A similar mirror excavated in the central plains of China is illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 98-9, no. 14, where it is noted that similar three-dragon pattern mirrors have been found in Jin Village, Luoyang, Henan province. Another in the Sumitomo Collection is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Chinese Bronze Mirrors, Sen-Oku Hakuko Kan, Kyoto, 8 January - 6 March 2011, no. 15. See, also, the two similar mirrors illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1941, No. 13, pl. 28 (D14) and pl. 29 (D 15) from the Hosokawa Collection.
Christie's. Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Center
Jin Nong (Chinese, 1687–1764), Plum Blossom and Calligraphy, 1761, Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Hanging scroll: ink on net-patterned paper. Without mounting: 116.2 x 41.5 cm (45 3/4 x 16 5/16 in.); with mounting: 219.8 x 55.8 cm (86 9/16 x 21 15/16 in.); width, with rollers: 66.3 cm (26 1/8 in.), Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund, 1976.26.2. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Ito Jakuchu (1716–1800), White Cockatoo, ca. 1755, Edo period (1615–1868). Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk. Without mounting: 108 x 48.5 cm (42 1/2 x 19 1/8 in.); with mounting: 190 x 62.3 cm (74 13/16 x 24 1/2 in.); width, with rollers: 67.8 cm (26 11/16 in.). Gift of Rosemarie and Leighton R. Longhi, B.A. 1967, 2006.210.7a-b. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Tadashi Kobayashi, Nobuo Tsuji, and Takeshi Yamakawa, Jakuchu, Shohaku, Rosetsu: Suibokubijutsu, 14 (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1973), 205.
Ito Jakuchu and Nobuo Tsuji, Jakuchu (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1974), 206, pl. 34.
Money L. Hickman and Sato Yasuhiro, The Paintings of Jakuchu, 1st ed., exh. cat. (New York: Asia Society Galleries, 1989).
Ito Jakuchu, Jakuchu, ed. Hiroyuki Kano (Kyoto: Shikosha, 1993), 75, pl. 51.
Matthew P. McKelway and Melissa M. Rinne, Traditions Unbound : Groundbreaking Painters of Eighteenth-Century Kyoto, exh. cat. (San Francisco: The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2005), 181.
Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 161, pl. 144.
Sadako Ohki, “Japanese Art at Yale,” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2007): 42.
Bottle-Shaped Vase, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Yongzheng reign mark and period (1723-1735). Porcelain with sang de boeuf glaze. H. 19.9 cm (7 13/16 in.); diam. 10.2 cm (4 in.). Bequest of Henry C. Schwab, 1941.756. Art Institute of Chicago ©2015 The Art Institute of Chicago
Bottle-Shaped Vase, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Porcelain with mirror black glaze. H. 38.2 cm (15 1/16 in.); diam. 22.1 cm (8 11/16 in.). Lucy Maud Buckingham Collection, 1924.408. Art Institute of Chicago ©2015 The Art Institute of Chicago
Lamp Representing the Realm of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu), 1st–2nd century C.E., Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 C.E.). Red earthenware with traces of pigment, 98.11 x 53.66 cm (38 5/8 x 21 1/8 in.). Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund, 1997.64.1. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery.
The Queen Mother of the West, Xiwangmu, was the most prominent female deity in early Chinese mythology. The roots of her legend may go back to high antiquity. The name Ximu, “Mother of the West,” appears in Shang-dynasty oracle bone inscriptions; this has led some scholars to believe that worship of this goddess already existed before the eleventh century B.C.E. In the writings of Eastern Zhou (770–256 B.C.E.) philosophers, Xiwangmu is described as timeless and deathless. During the Western Han period (206 B.C.E.–9 C.E.), she was further linked with the concept of a western immortal land. Shortly before the beginnning of the Common Era, she was worshipped both at the imperial court and among the masses. Her image became standard decoration for tombs and funerary shrines. The popularity of the Xiwangmu cult derived from the search for immortality, which rose to an unprecedented height during the Han dynasty. In popular belief, Xiwangmu was the deity who controlled the secret of immortality. She was omnipotent, able to bless people with wealth and children, and especially efficacious in helping people escape from worldly troubles. She was said to live on the summit of the immortal mountain Kunlun, where trees of deathlessness grew and the water of deathlessness flowed. There she was seated on her dragon-and-tiger throne and accompanied by fairies and divine animals. She appears on such a throne in the center of this lamp flanked by the sun and the moon symbolizing the two cosmic forces, yin and yang, and attended by three of her acolytes: a rabbit pounding the elixir of immortality, a three-legged bird, and a nine-tailed fox. Below her, two supplicants with staffs kneel in front of an open door, perhaps an entry to the realm of the immortals over which she was thought to preside. Surmounting the image of the Queen Mother is a drum on the back of a feline creature capped by a canopy-parasol. Two mounted drummers are on either side, and below them are two cup-bearing attendants on the backs of tigers. Two more lamp cups are to either side of the figure of Xiwangmu. The assemblage is supported by an ursine-like creature standing on the back of a giant tortoise. Hybrid creatures support four more lamp cups along the outer perimeter, two on each side. The whole composition suggests the western immortal mountain Kunlun, which was thought to be held up on the back of a tortoise. In its axiality, the lamp takes on the properties of an axis mundi.
Tomb Guardian Creature (Zhenmushou), ca. 740 C.E., Tang dynasty (618–907). Earthenware with traces of pigment, 58.4 x 38.1 x 21.6 cm (23 x 15 x 8 1/2 in.). Purchased with a gift from Ruth and Bruce B. Dayton, B.A. 1940, 2000.57.4. Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
By the mid-eighth century C.E., tomb guardian creatures had become particularly ferocious, standing erect, quelling another beast, or tussling with a snake. Their appearance may have been inspired by the active deities of Esoteric Buddhism.
Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 116–17 (detail), 118, 371–72, pl. 107.
Lot 1414. A silvery bronze circular 'Dragon' mirror, Mid Western Han dynasty, 3rd-2nd century BC. Estimate USD 12,000 - USD 18,000. Price realised USD 9,375. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
The ribbed loop encircled by a rope-twist border and an inscription, the main field flat-cast with three highly stylized scrolling dragons with interlinked lozenge-shaped tails reserved on a ground of cloud whorls, all within a flat border of linked arcs reserved on a patterned ground - 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) diam., 1/8 in. (.4 cm.) thick, box - 640.4g
Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1989.
Notes: Several features of this Western Han dynasty mirror differentiate it from mirrors of Warring States date. It is thicker, has an outer border of joined arcs and has an inscription.
A very similar mirror, also with an inscription and an outer border of linked arcs, in the Lagrelius Collection is illustrated by B. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1990, No. 62, pl. 60 (F 31). Other related mirrors are also illustrated on pls. 51-53, but on all of these the details of the dragon decoration are raised rather than the flat surface of the dragons on the present and Lagrelius mirrors. See, also, the related mirror of this latter type excavated from Western Han tomb number 17 at Yanzizui, Changsha, Hunan province in 1955, which has a more ornate surround to the loop, illustrated in Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji - 16 - Bronze Mirrors, Beijing, 1998, no. 38.
Christie's. Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Center
Lot 1415. A silvery bronze circular mirror, Mid Western Han dynasty, 3rd-2nd century BC. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 9,000. Price realised USD 9,375. © Christie's Images Ltd 2012.
The triple-fluted loop encircled by a concave band and a band of stylized dragon scroll cast in low relief against a ground of tight cloud scrolls, all within a band of linked arcs; 5¾ in. (14.6 cm.) diam., 1/8 in. (.4 cm.) thick, box - 225g
Provenance: Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, New York, acquired in Hong Kong, 1993.
Notes: Compare the mirror of this type with more simplified scroll reserved on a ground of larger coiled scrolls within a similar linked arc border illustrated by K. Karlgren, "Huai and Han," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1941, No. 13, pl. 73 (J 16), where it is dated 2nd century BC. It is illustrated again by Karlgren, "Early Chinese Mirrors: Classification Scheme Recapitulated," BMFEA, Stockholm, 1968, No. 40, pl. 97 (J 16).
Christie's. Luminous Perfection: Fine Chinese Mirrors from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection, 22 March 2012, New York, Rockefeller Center
The Bhagavata Purana, “The Ancient Story of God,” a chronicle of Vishnu, was a major subject of Indian miniature painting. Books 10 and 11, which describe the career on earth of Vishnu’s eighth incarnation, Krishna, were frequently illustrated. This large illustration comes from such a series created in the Punjab Hills state of Basohli during the third quarter of the eighteenth century. It depicts a battle between Balarama, Krishna’s older brother, and Jarasandha that took place after Krishna had abducted his future principal wife, Rukmini, on her wedding day. The opposing sides face each other while arrows fly across the intervening space. In the poses of the figures and in the attention to detail the image shows a close relationship to the Mughal style of painting practiced in Guler, another of the Punjab Hills states. The Mughal style ultimately eclipsed the earlier Basohli style.
