Lot 657. A large blue and white 'dragon' dish, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

with gently rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, boldly painted to the center with a five-clawed dragon leaping amidst clouds, all framed within three single line borders, the exterior with two further dragons striding in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', the six-character reign mark inscribed in a horizontal line within a rectangular cartouche beneath the rim, the base unglazed, Japanese wood box (2). Diameter 17 1/4  in., 43.7 cm

Note: Compare a slightly larger dish of this design in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, illustrated in An Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1949, cat. no. 109. Another example, of the same size as the present dish, was sold in our London rooms, 5th December 1995, lot 397. A third smaller dish, formerly in the collection of M.S. Whitehouse was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition of Chinese Blue and white Porcelain, 14th to 19th Centuries, London, 1954, cat. no. 152, and was later sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1992, lot 234. 

Blue and white 'dragon' basin, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566) © 2017 Philadelphia Museum of Art

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 658. A blue and white square cover, Ming Dynasty, 15th century. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

well crafted with the shoulder gracefully curving to a square dome topped with an onion-shaped finial, painted in inky cobalt tones with curling vines issuing from the corners and sides of the shoulder and from the base of the finial, the finial painted blue with vertical white lines in reserve, all above a tapering base of circular form. Width 3 in., 7.6 cm

Note: A cover of this form would have been used on a small square jar, such as the one in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum illustrated in William Bowyer Honey, The Ceramic Art of China and Other Countries of the Far East, London, 1945, pl. 93a. A jar of the same shape dating to the Yongle / Xuande period was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30th October 2002, lot 275.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 659. A polychrome enameled jar and a cover, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566). Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of ovoid form painted on the exterior in iron-red, green, and yellow enamels, the body with two figural scenes divided by clouds, between borders of alternating red and green triangles, an abstract lappet band around the foot, the shoulder with a chrysanthemum scroll reserved against a red ground, the rim wrapped in a brass band, the base with an underglaze blue six-character mark within a double-circle, wood cover (2). Height 6 in., 15.2 cm

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 660. A rare blue and white water vessel, Ming Dynasty, Late 15th-Early 16th century. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

the globular body molded at the widest point with two raised horizontal ribs, with further ribs to the shoulder rising to a deep bowl-shaped mouth, the inside of the neck with a reticulated filter, the body densely painted with broad bands of lotus and peony scrolls, with a band of lappets at the foot, and the waisted neck with segmented florets, all divided by double line borders. Height 7 5/8  in., 19.4 cm high 

Note: Most likely copying a metalwork prototype, this rare vessel would have been used in Western and Southeast Asia to keep water free from impurities. Compare a similar vessel mounted with a gold 17th century Ottoman mount in the Topkapi Museum, illustrated in Regina Krahl and John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, London, vol. II, pl. 665, 1986.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 661. Two blue and white 'Scholar' dishes, late Ming-Early Qing dynasty, 17th century. Estimate 2,500 — 3,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

each with shallow, rounded sides, painted with a central medallion enclosing a sage in a landscape with an overhanging pine tree and rocks in the foreground, a diaper pattern encircling the rim, the undersides with birds perched on fruiting peach branches, the base with an apocryphal Zhengde mark (2). Diameter 5 in., 12.7 cm 

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16th May 1977, lot 78.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 24th November 1981, lot 109.

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Lot 661. A small blue and white 'Dragon' bowl, Wanli mark and period (1573-1620). Estimate 2,000 — 3,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

ethe rounded sides rising to an everted rim, painted to the center with a striding frontal dragon in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl', below a band of flying phoenix divided by stylized clouds, the exterior with an undulating leafy peony scroll, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue. Diameter 3 5/8  in., 9.2 cm 

Provenance: Collection of Pauline B. (1910-2000) and Myron S. (1906-1992) Falk Jr., New York.
Christie's New York, 21st September 2001, lot 488.

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 Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1530. Signed lower right with the artist's winged serpent device. Oil on panel, 37,2 x 25 cm (14 2/3 x 9 7/8 in.)

NEW YORK, NY.- For TEFAF Maastricht 2017, Dickinson Gallery will showcase a range of Old Master, Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary paintings, sculptures and works on paper, many of which have not been seen on the international art market in decades. Among the highlights are a rare Judith with the Head of Holofernes by Lucas Cranach the Elder; a wild and exuberant Bacchanale by Lovis Corinth; an iconic view of Mont Sainte-Victoire by Paul Cézanne; a Bauhaus-period still life by Paul Klee, in its original artist’s frame; and Jean Dubuffet’s Alentour la Maison, an exploration of artistic processes. 

Outstanding among the old masters on view is Cranach’s Judith with the Head of Holofernes, which has remained in the same private collection since the 1960s. On the reverse of this beautifully preserved panel, a series of inscriptions indicate the work’s historic provenance in the princely collections of Waldeck-Pyrmont and subsequently Schaumburg-Lippe. 

Representing the Post-Impressionist period is a watercolour view of Mont Sainte-Victoire, whose distinctive flat-topped silhouette fascinated Cézanne over the course of three decades. It features his signature ‘constructive stroke’, a technique that helped inspire the development of Cubism, and its provenance includes such historically significant names as Ambroise Vollard, Leo and Gertrude Stein, Paul Rosenberg and Norton Simon. 

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, circa 1890. Watercolour on buff paper, 28 x 44.5 cm. 

Provenance: Ambroise Vollard, Paris; Leo & Gertrude Stein, Paris, acquired from the above; Gertrude Stein, Paris; Paul Rosenberg, Paris; 
Justin K. Thannhauser, Paris and Berlin. G. Perron, Berlin; 
Gustav Schweitzer, Berlin, by 1937; Dalzell Hatfield Gallery, Los Angeles; Norton Simon, Los Angeles; His Sale; Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, New York, 21 Oct

Nearly contemporary in date but worlds apart in style is Corinth’s euphoric scene of bacchic revelry, a Bacchanale considered so scandalous in its own day that it was refused for public exhibition in Munich in 1896, and only shown in more liberal Berlin in 1913. A recently restituted work, the Bacchanale is in remarkable condition, and the unlined state of the canvas preserves the fresh impasto touches of the scattered wildflowers. 

Louis Corinth, Bacchanale, 1896. Oil on canvas, 117 x 204 cm. Signed lower right 'Lovis Corinth'. 

Provenance: Ernst Kirchner, Munich; unidentified Gallery, Munich; Alfred Salomon, Berlin, acquired from the above in the 1920s (RM 23,000) Forced Sale; Rudolph Lepke’s Auctions-Haus, Berlin, 11 March 1936, lot 123 (RM 7,500); Galerie Christoph Czwiklitzer, Cologne; Städtisches Museum, Gelsenkirchen, acquired from the above in 1957; restituted to the heirs of Alfred Salomon, Dec. 2016

The modern era is represented by Paul Klee’s 1925 composition Blumen in Glasern, one of the artist’s nocturnal still lifes, which situate brightly-coloured mechanical flowers and hourglass-shaped vases against a dark ground. Like other works from this period, it conveys a tension between otherworldliness and the practical formality of geometry and design. It remains encased in Klee’s original black-painted frame. 

Paul Klee (1879-1940), Blumen in Glasern. Signed and dated lower right 'Klee 1925 10' inscribed verso '1925 10 Blumen in Glasern C1 13' and inscribed in red ink on the stretcher '1925/10 Blumen in Gläsern K C1 13'. Oil on paper laid down on board, in the artist’s original frame, 52.5 x 41.5 cm. 

Provenance: Alfred Flechtheim, Düsseldorf/Berlin/Paris/London, on consignment until 1927; Rudolf Probst, Galerie Neue Kunst Fides: Das Kunsthaus, Dresden/Mannheim, on consignment, 1927-1933; the artist, Düsseldorf and Bern, returned from Probst in 1933; Hans and Erika Meyer-Benteli, Bern, acquired from the artist or from the artist’s estate; private collection, Switzerland

Moving into the contemporary period, Dickinson will be offering Dubuffet’s 1957 Alentour la Maison, in which Dubuffet rejects traditional notions of finish in favour of a graffiti-like surface typical of the art brut movement he pioneered. Like other works from this period, Alentour la Maison (‘Around the House’) explores a domestic theme, conveying a mood of melancholy that may reflect post-war attitudes.

Jean Dubuffet, Alentour la Maison, 1957, signed and dated upper right J. Dubuffet 57, oil on canvas, 89 x 116 cm (35 x 45 2/3 in.).

Francesco Guardi (1712-Venice–1793), Capriccio with a ruined late Gothic arch. Oil on canvas, 48.5 x 73.7 cm each.

Also visible in this scene are fishermen on a bridge, Capriccio with a classical ruined arch, river bank with fishermen and a temple beyond.

Provenance: Seligman, Paris, 1935; his sale; Charpentier, Paris, 4-5 June 1935, nos. 76-77; Dimitri Tziracopoulo; Galleria Canesso, Rome; Agnew’s, London, 1967; The Hon. James Bruce, acquired from the above; Agnew’s, London, 1983

Lot 78125. A Monumental Chinese Blue and White Triple Gourd Vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period, circa 1654-1722, 40-1/8 inches high (101.9 cm). Estimate $30,000-50,000.

DALLAS, TX.- A monumental triple gourd vase, dramatic bronze figures and exquisite porcelain highlight the offerings at the inaugural Asian Art Signature Auction held by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions on April 2. Standing nearly 3-1/2 feet tall the Chinese blue and white triple gourd vase (est. $30,000-50,000) which features floral and foliate motifs on the upper baluster segment, dragons, leaves and blossoms in the midsection with chrysanthemums and dragons featured on the lowest portion was purchased by John Pierpoint Morgan, as the American iconic financier amassed one of the finest and largest Asian art collections in the world. The beautiful piece is a two-piece construction with Morgan Collection labels on the underside and interior neck. 

“I am happy and proud to help present Heritage Auctions’ inaugural Asian Art Signature Auction,” said Richard Cervantes, Heritage Auctions Asian Arts Consignment Director. “The variety of fine Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian works of art represented in this sale that originated from private estates and family collections demonstrates Heritage’s ability to source important property from throughout the United States and beyond.”  

“J.P. Morgan’s well-documented and vast collection of Chinese ceramics is well known to collectors and connoisseurs of antique porcelain. This Kangxi-period masterwork of both pottery and painting is a rare piece evoking the grandeur of two ‘kings,’ the first great ruler of the Qing Dynasty and this nation’s most powerful financier,” added Cervantes. 

Lot 78125. A Monumental Chinese Blue and White Triple Gourd Vase, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period, circa 1654-1722, 40-1/8 inches high (101.9 cm). Estimate $30,000-50,000.

PROVENANCE: John Pierpoint Morgan Collection of Chinese Ceramics;
Joseph and Ben Duveen Brothers, Inc. Collection;
The Norton Simon Foundation, acquired 1965;
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Sale 3204, May 7-8, 1971, Lot 36;
Private collection;
Acquired by present owner from above.

The vase of two-piece construction, upper baluster segment with floral and foliate motifs, midsection with dragons, leaves and blossoms, upper sections connected at lower waist, lowest portion with chrysanthemums and dragons, Morgan Collection label(s) to underside and interior neck.

A rare Chinese Blue and White Dragon Dish (est. $10,000-15,000) from the Ming Dynasty, period circa 1506-21 also will be available. This important piece shows only one of two known iterations with two dragons to the interior cavetto depicted either to the left/right or above/below of the central dragon. An identical version of the present design was donated to the British Museum by British diplomat Sir John Addis, who collected Ming porcelain.

Lot 78122. A Rare and Important Chinese Blue and White Dragon Dish, Ming Dynasty, Zhengde mark in underglaze blue within double circles and of the period, circa 1506-1521, 1-5/8 h x 9-1/4 d inches (4.1 x 23.5 cm). Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000. 

This important dish dates to the Zhengde Period (1506-1521) and its distinct lotus and dragon decoration is characteristic of the motifs found on Imperial wares of the period. The low dish features a writhing five-toed dragon surrounded by lotus blossoms to the center reserve, bowl well with two elongated dragons in flight among lotus leaves, outer cavetto, and conforming dragon and lotus design above the footed base with ruyi head design.

This particular design is one of two known iterations in which the two dragons to the interior cavetto are either depicted to the left/right or above/below of the central dragon. An identical version of the present design was donated to the British Museum by Sir John Addis (circa 1975) and is illustrated in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, by Jessica Harrison-Hall, London, no. 8:16. A dish of this design is also documented in the sixth Scroll of Antiquities contained within the imperial collection of Guwan Tu, Yongzheng Emperor (1728) now housed in the British Museum.

A Blue and White Dragon Dish, Ming Dynasty, Four-character Zhengde reign mark within a double ring and of the period, 1506-1521, 24.8 x 4.5 cm. Bequeathed by Sir John M Addis, 1984,0202.8 © Trustees of the British Museum

Reference: Christie's Hong Kong, The R.F.A. Riesco Collection of Important Chinese Ceramics, 27 November 2013, Lot 3116;
Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, 2000, p. 68, pl. 63.

There are a number of dramatic bronzes featured, but a copper-inlaid bronze and silver mounted figure of Wrathful Vajrapani Bhutadamara (est. $20,000-30,000) should capture the attention of savvy collectors. The Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period piece stands nearly 10 inches tall. 

Lot 78140. A Fine Chinese Copper-Inlaid Bronze and Silver Mounted Figure of Wrathful Vajrapani Bhutadamara, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, 18th century, 9-5/8 inches high (24.4 cm) (figure). Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000. 

The figure depicting the Buddhist Vajrapani bodhisattva having blue pigmented hair in front of double-bun surmounted by half vajra, five-pointed skull-adorned headdress, face centered with third eye; neck, arms, and wrists adorned with beaded and snake-form jewelry, ceremonial dorje-mounted crescent knife to right hand and lotus blossom to left hand, flowing scarf inlaid with copper stringing extending downwards from shoulders terminating in wispy scrolls, tri-layered dhoti with full-body tiger pelt tied at waist. 

A large visually stunning Japanese Cloisonné-Enameled Cockerels Vase ($30,000-50,000) from the Meiji Period standing over 16 inches high also will draw attention and interest. 

Lot 78313. A Large and Magnificent Japanese Cloisonné-Enameled Cockerels Vase, Meiji Period, circa 1900. Marks: Sakigake mark Indicating Studio of Namikawa Sosuke (1847-1910), 16-1/4 inches high (41.3 cm). Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000. 

Other top lots include but are not limited to: 

Lot 78246. Zhang Daqian (Chinese, 1899-1983), Plum Blossoms, 1972. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 47-3/4 x 18-7/8 inches (121.2 x 47.9 cm) (sheet). Inscribed and signed, with five seals of the artist. Dated [minguo] sixty-one year (1972). Dedicated to Yingwu for his fifty-fifth birthday. Estimate: $50,000 - $80,000. 

PROVENANCE: This painting was a gift to Zhang Daqian's good friend, Kuomintang General Liu Yingwu to celebrate his fifty-fifth birthday. This painting remained in Liu Yingwu's family and passed down by descent.

Lot 78119. A Large and Rare Chinese Blue and White Porcelain Windswept Jar, Guan, Ming Dynasty, 15th century, 13-7/8 inches high (35.2 cm) (jar). Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000. 

The jar having reticulated carved rosewood lid, neck adorned with banded scrollwork in blue underglaze, shoulder with repeating crosshatching and foliate cartouches, body decorated with Xiwangmu, "Queen Mother of West" holding a basket of peaches and flanked by two female attendants, eight figures likely depicting the Eight Immortals, boy with deer, and scholars engaged in a game of go, raised on carved rosewood base.
Jar, stand, and lid measure 21 inches high (53.3 cm). 

Lot 78312. A Fine and Large Pair of Japanese Parcel Gilt and Patinated Bronze Vases, Meiji Period, late 19th century
Marks: Studio mark of Seiya Saku, 26 inches high (66.0 cm). Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000. 

The pair of vases each of identical baluster-form and decoration, bodies decorated in high relief with partial gilt elephants exhibiting hardstone-embellished blanket and accoutrements, pagoda-form carriage above inset with glass marble architectural finial, other motifs including hawks perched on stands with legs embellished with hardstone orbs, vases with iris relief to bodies, verdigris patinated fan-form censers with carp motifs, vase and squat jardinière, and large drip-glaze verdigris patinated vase. 

Lot 78166. A Rare Chinese Cinnabar Lacquered Peach Box, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, circa 1736-1795, 5-5/8 h x 11-1/8 w x 11-1/8 d inches (14.3 x 28.3 x 28.3 cm). Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000. 

The peach-shaped domed two-piece box having carved ground comprised of intricate diaperwork with swastikas in relief, central cartouche framed by carved chrysanthemums, interior with landscape scene depicting the Eight Immortals, carved peach and stylized swastika flourishes throughout cavettos, rims with keyed borders.

For a similar Imperial Cinnabar Lacquer Peach-Shaped Box see Christie's Hong Kong Sale 2965, Lot 2108: 28 November 2012 

Lot 78120. A Chinese Porcelain Hundred Deer Hu-Form Vase, Qianlong seal in underglaze blue but of a later period, 12-7/8 inches high (32.7 cm). Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000. 

EXHIBITED: Oriental Ceramic Society, 1964.

Lot 595. An archaic bronze ritual blade, kui, Late Shang-Early Western Zhou dynasty, 12th - 11th century BC. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely cast of triangular shape with matching relief on both sides and an upturned curly-bracket-form shield rising from the base, spreading across the base of each side a wide taotie mask in high relief over a leiwen ground, five smaller low-relief taotie masks descending along the central axis, with mask-like imagery incised in the adjacent space, pierced in three places, the tortoise shell-colored patina under malachite encrustations. Length 10 1/2  in., 26.5 cm

Provenance: European Private Collection.
Sotheby's London, 10th June 1997, lot 108.
Collection of Bernadette and William M. B. Berger, Denver, Colorado, acquired in 1997.

Note: A very similar blade from the Hellström collection, now in the Stockholm Museum, is illustrated in Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities Album, 1971, pl. 34; another from the Wannieck collection in Sueji Umehara, Shina-Kodo Seikwa, part III, vol. II, 1933, pl. 84; and a third, still retaining its tang, from the collection of D. David-Weill sold in our London rooms, 29th February, 1972, lot 97.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 596. A rare bronze ritual wine vessel, zun, Late Shang dynasty  (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC). Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

rising from a splayed foot to an everted rim, the central section cast in relief with two taotie masks with bulging eyes on a leiwen ground divided by narrow flanges between double bowstring bands, the interior with a three-character inscription, the dark brownish-green patina with some light malachite encrustation, wood stand, Japanese wood box (3). Height 10 3/8  in., 26.4 cm

Literature: Minao Hayashi, Inshu-jidai Seidoki-monyo no Kenkyu / Studies on Yin and Zhou Bronze Decoration: A Conspectus of Yin and Zhou Bronze Vessels, vol. II, Tokyo, 1986, pl. 2-467. 

Note: The present zun vessel belongs to a distinct category of late Shang and early Western Zhou dynasty bronzes characterized by the eccentric 'smiling mouth' formed below the taotie. The most famous example of this type is a zun in the Sackler collection, dated to the 11th century BC, and intricately cast with flanges and three registers of taotie masks, the central one bearing a toothy grin, illustrated in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections,  Washington D.C., 1987, pl. 49 and front cover. A small number of zun from this category and of similar form to the present example are known, including one in the Idemitsu Museum, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 46; another excavated in 1999 and now in the Institute of Archaeology Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng / Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, vol. 20, Shanghai, 2012, pl. 11213; and a third sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 7th July 2003, lot 612. 

The box for this lot is inscribed with a note by Yuzo Sugimura, dated 1964.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 597. A rare archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu, Late Shang dynasty  (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC). Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

of slender waisted form, finely cast around the mid-section with pairs of taotie masks with raised eyes divided by notched flanges, above a pair of bowstrings interrupted by two apertures, the splayed foot similarly decorated in an openwork design, the tall flared neck encircled by four upright triangular blades rising from a band of spirals, the surface with areas of malachite encrustation, the exterior with a pictogram below the rim, possibly reading que, Japanese wood box (2). Height 10 3/8  in., 26.4 cm

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 8th July 1975, Lot 8.
Hirano Kotoken, 1976.

Exhibited: Kyoto National Museum, from 1970s until 2016 (on loan).

Literature: Minao Hayashi, In Shu Jidai Seidouki no Kenkyu In-Shu Seidouki Soran 1 [Studies on Shang and Zhou Period Bronzes], Tokyo, 1984, vol 1, p. 323, fig. 79.  

Note: This vessel belongs to a distinct and rare group of archaic bronze ritual vessels that feature striking intaglio and openwork decoration. Several gu of this type were excavated at the tomb of Fu Hao in Anyang, Henan province, illustrated in Yinxu Fu Hao mu, Beijing, 1980, pls 74 and 75; and another was excavated at Xiaotun, a small village near Anyang, published in 5000 Ans d’Art Chinois. Les Bronzes, Brussels, 1989, vol. I, pl. 41. These excavated examples confirm the dating of this piece to the first century of the Anyang period, and their importance in the context of burial ceremonies. 

See a closely related gu of this type, bearing the same inscription, from the Carl Kempe Collection, illustrated in Wu Zhenfeng, ed., Shangzhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng [Compendium of Inscriptions and Images of Bronzes from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties], Shanghai, 2012, vol. 17, no. 9116; and two others, with the same inscription, from the collection of V.W. Shiro, sold in our London rooms, 13th-14th November 1972, lots 234 and 235; the first, which was previously sold in the same rooms, 28th May 1963, lot 139, is now in the Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo and published in Ancient Chinese Arts in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1989, pl. 50, as well as in Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby’s and Christie’s Sales, Shanghai, 2007, no. 200. 

Several other gu of this type are held in important collections around the world, for example one in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, is illustrated in Ma Chengyuan, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, Oxford, 1986, pl. 28; another is published in Robert W. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge, 1987, pl. 30; one from the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, is illustrated in Christian Deydier, Les Bronzes Archaïques Chinois, Paris, 1995, vol. I, p. 227, pl. 1; a fourth in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl. 22b; and a further example was sold in our London rooms, 8th July 1975, lot 8.

Vessels cast in openwork are known from as early as the Erligang period, with a number of gu and zun excavated at Panlongcheng, Hubei province, such as one published in Zhongguo meishu fenlei quanji. Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, Beijing, 1996, vol. 1, pl. 155.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 598. An archaic bronze ritual food vessel, liding, Late Shang dynasty  (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC). Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Christie’s London, 5th June 1973, lot 251.
Sotheby’s London, 1st-2nd April 1974, lot 69.
Sotheby’s London, 25th March 1975, lot 151.
Hirano Kotoken.

Exhibited: Kyoto National Museum, 1970s until 2016 (on loan)..

Note: Outstanding for its well-preserved crisp decoration, this liding is a fine example of the final stage of bronze development in Anyang, which is characterized by the high-relief motifs against dense ground patterns and attractive rounded forms. The most refined examples, such as the present piece, feature intaglio designs on the taotie masks over a ground interspersed with leiwen spirals. Vessels of this form are a combination of the classic semi-spherical ding and the lobed li and were made from the later Erligang period through the Shang and Western Zhou dynasty.

A liding with a very similar taotie mask, from the collection of J. Eguchi, is illustrated in Sueji Umehara, Nihon shūcho Shina kodō seikwa/ Selected Relics of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from Collections in Japan, vol. III, Osaka, 1961, pl. CLXXXIII; one, also decorated on the legs, in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1986, pl. 14a; another from the collection of David David-Weill, illustrated in Alexander C. Soper, A Case of Meaningful Magic, Washington D.C., 1990, pl. 7, was sold in our Paris rooms, 16th December 2015, lot 21; a fourth was published in Bernhard Karlgren, “New Studies on Chinese Bronzes”, The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1937, pl. X, no. 248; and a slightly smaller example was sold at Christie’s New York, 23rd March 1995, lot 326. Compare also a liding with a large mask, but with parallel lines on the horns instead of spirals, in the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln, illustrated in Christian Deydier, Les Bronzes Archaïques Chinois/ Archaic Chinese Bronzes, Paris, 1995, vol. 1, p. 257, pl. 3.

The two pictograms on this piece, which appears to depict a bird near a stream, are also found on a liding of similar proportions, from the collection of Sir Herbert Ingram now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, illustrated on the Museum’s website, accession n. EA1956.3516.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 27. Mark Rothko (1903 - 1970), Untitled, acrylic on paper laid on canvas, 193 by 122 cm. 76 by 48 in. Executed in 1969. Estimate £3,000,000 — 4,000,000. Sold for £3,533,750. Photo: Sotheby's

Literature: Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: Pictures of Drama, Cologne 2003, p. 89, illustrated in colour

Note: In the pictures created throughout his legendary career, Mark Rothko strove to convey infinity within the confines of the finite. Driven by a dogged pursuit of luminescence, the artist created a corpus of works that seek to convey the essence of pure light through the mesmerising conflation of form and colour. Thus it is unsurprising that, in the course of this quest Rothko arrived at the medium of paper, and its paradoxical ability to concurrently absorb and reflect light. Untitled, 1969, is stunning in scale for a work on paper by Rothko and enchanting in its subtle tonality, attesting to the absolute equality of import that exists between Rothko’s canvases and his paintings on paper. Emitting an aura of contemplative serenity in the tradition of the artist’s most esteemed monumental canvases, the present work makes manifest Dore Ashton’s declaration that Rothko “conjured light and he conjured shadow, as painters have always done, but he did so in the service of an ideal that transcended both, and that can only be felt and not thought” (Dore Ashton cited in: Bonnie Clearwater, Mark Rothko, New York 1984, p. 13).

Rothko Chapel, Houston, 1977. Image: © Romano Cagnoni/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Artwork: © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko ARS, NY and DACS, London.

During the summer of 1968, Mark Rothko began a series of oil paintings on paper predominated by a combination of brown and grey hues. He divided his sheets into two zones, layering the top half with smooth brown paint and transferring his grey pigment onto the bottom half in diaphanous swathes. The particularities inherent in the materials that the artist used contributed greatly to the appearance of works such as Untitled, as the paper’s fibres soaked up the fluid paint, resulting in a surface seemingly undisturbed by the artist’s gesture and bristling with enigmatic potentiality. In these works, and counter to Rothko’s earlier paintings, the distinct fields of colour do not float on a discretely monochromatic ground but are instead bound by the narrow white border that circumscribes the canvas. Though seemingly more entrenched within the framing device of the white border, the brown and grey zones of Untitled still express an impossibly subtle sense of movement, most perceptible in the slight undulation that occurs when the colours coincide. Faintly allusive of a horizon line besieged by fog as in the brooding Romantic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich, this meeting point becomes the crux of the composition, wherein Rothko achieved his art’s ultimate objective.

Caspar David Friedrich, Abbey in the Oakwood, 1810, Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin. Image: © Bridgeman Images

Sotheby'sContemporary Art Evening Auction London | 08 Mar 2017

Lot 599. A painted pottery figure of a prancing horse, Tang dynasty, 7th-8th century. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection of Arthur B. Michael (1853-1942), Newton Center, Massachusetts (bequest of 1942).
Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, no. 1942:16.19.
Sotheby's New York, 20th March 2007, lot 509.

Literature: Andrew C. Ritchie, Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculpture in the Permanent Collection, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, 1949, cat. no. 214.
Steven A. Nash, with Katy Kline, Charlotta Kotik and Emese Wood, Albright-Knox Art Gallery:Painting and Sculpture from Antiquity to 1942, New York, 1979, p. 106.

Note: With its dynamic pose and well-defined musculature, the horse conveys a lively sense of energy which is heightened by the whinnying implied by its open mouth and pleasant jingling of moving bells. The long elegant mane and prancing position represent one of a highly desirable and rare group of trained dancing horses that were much in demand by the imperial household and its guests. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 600. A painted pottery figure of an equestrian, Early Tang dynasty. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection of Ezekiel Schloss.
Collection of Earl Morse.
Eskenazi, London.

Exhibited: Spirit and Ritual. The Morse Collection of Ancient Chinese Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1982, cat. no. 36. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 601. A rare painted pottery figure of a boy, Song dynasty (960–1279). Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: German Private Collection, 1950s.
Raimann & Raimann, Weisbaden, Germany, 2010.

Note: The present figure is exceptional for the deft quality of the modeling. A seated pottery figure of a young boy, also perhaps depicting the infant Buddha, of similar scale,  with hands raised, one holding a peach, was offered in these rooms 21st September 2005, lot 60. Similar smaller pottery of depictions of boys with finely drawn features and somewhat elongated heads, are known, see a group of seven painted pottery figures, from a tomb dated to 1113 CE, excavated in Zhejiang city, Jiangsu province, Zhejiang City Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, diaosubian, vol. 5, Beijing, 1988, pl. 173.

A gilt-lacquered wood figure of a seated boy, of similar proportions, attributed to the Song / Jin Dynasty is illustrated and discussed in The Immortals of the Past, Kaikodo Journal, Spring 2014, Kaikodo, New York, cat. no. 56.
Representations of the seated infant Buddha are rare. A bronze example of an infant Buddha in meditation pose was sold in our London rooms 5th November 2008, lot 105
Images of the infant Buddha cast in bronze standing and pointing up to the sky are more commonly found; see several examples included in the exhibition The Casting of Religion. A Special Exhibition of Mr. Peng Kai-dong's Donation, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2004, cat. nos 178-185. 

The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford Authentication Ltd., sample no. C205m5, 16th December 2005. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 10. Nicolas de Staël (1914 - 1955), Parc des Princes, oil on card laid down on panel, 12 by 16.8 cm. 4 3/4 by 6 5/8 in. Executed in 1952. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 GBP. Sold 440,750 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's. 

Lot 602. An exceptional 'Jian''nogime temmoku' tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Japanese Private Collection. 

Prismatic Iridescence: A Nogime Temmoku Tea Bowl from Japan

Bowls with this exquisite dappled black glaze with striking iridescent ‘hare’s fur’ and ‘oil spot’ markings are among the most celebrated products of the Song dynasty (960-1279) kilns at Jian, in northern Fujian province. The desirability of these bowls coevolved with the tea-drinking tradition of the period.

At that time, Chan Buddhist priests prepared, imbibed, and served tea for its beneficial effects on the body and mind. The elaborate preparatory process­—which involved scraping tea from a pressed cake, drying it, grinding it, putting it through a sieve, selecting the finest resulting powder, mixing it into a paste with warm water, and gradually adding additional water while simultaneously whisking it into a frothy beverage—played a central role in religious ceremonies. It also became fashionable in elite social circles. Sacred and secular enthusiasts alike sought to master the art of tea-making, with praise awarded to the person who achieved the richest froth.

The intrinsic qualities of Jian bowls made them particularly suited for tea preparation and enjoyment. In size and form they were comfortable to hold. Their heavy potting had an insulating effect, keeping the tea inside hot while protecting the fingers from the heat. Their speckled black glazes subtly imbued with the spectral coloration of refracted light heightened the aesthetic experience of a well-formed white froth. Additionally, Jian bowls were made in the same province as the empire’s prized teas, providing another link between the vessel and its contents.

Northern Song scholars such as Huang Tingjian (1045-1105), Yang Wanli (1127-1206) and Su Dongpo (1037-1101) discuss Fujian black-glazed tea bowls in their poems and essays. Even Emperor Huizong (1082-1135), one of China’s greatest connoisseurs, was a devotee of Fujianese tea as well as Jian tea bowls, and proclaimed those with ‘hare’s fur’ markings the most desirable (see Robert D. Mowry, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge Mass., 1996, p. 30). Intellectual and imperial appreciation for the wares continued into the Southern Song dynasty, when the court’s closer proximity to the kiln spurred output. The Jian kilns supplied tea bowls to the court as a form of tribute, but due to the variable outcome of the glaze, they were not deemed imperial wares. Indeed, bowls inscribed on the base before firing with the characters gong yu [‘for imperial use’] or jin zhan [‘bowl for presentation’] are not generally the most impressive.

Jian artisans experimented within this ceramic type with dazzling results. By manipulating body and glaze compositions, kiln temperatures, the cooling process, and allowing for the interventions of chance factors in the firing process, Jian ceramicists created wares that display the full potential of the iron oxide glaze. One of the best known effects is ‘hare’s fur’ (Jpn. nogime), in which opalescent streaks run down the sides of the bowl. Another, more rare, is the ‘oil spot’ (Jpn. yuteki) surface, in which tiny shimmering circles appear on the glaze. The latter is difficult to achieve because the craftsman must interrupt the firing between the moment when the spots form and moment they dissolve into streaks.  

The present ‘Jian’ tea bowl is rare in that it exhibits both types of variegation in the glaze. Its steeply angled sides are bathed in a thick inky black glaze that pools just above the chocolate-brown foot. On each side of the metal-bound rim, copper-toned ‘oil spots’ coalesce in a dense, continuous cluster dispersing into a looser distribution at the shoulder before transforming into an upper register of ‘hare’s fur.’ Throughout, new copper freckles emerge and cascade downward, thinning, lightening, and wavering as they reach the bottom. This internal complexity refracts light in unexpected ways, allowing the surface to appear black and copper at one moment, and a combination of aubergine, teal, midnight blue, and gold the next, constantly beckoning and teasing the eye. On the interior, the glaze culminates to one side of the well with tiny golden specks around a larger spot, like stars orbiting a planet. The smoothness of the glaze allows it to express the full range of luminous effects even to this day.

The notoriety of Jian bowls quickly spread to Japan via Japanese Zen Buddhist monks who travelled to the monasteries of the Tianmu (‘eyes of heaven’) mountain range, west of Hangzhou (Zhejiang), where the bowls were used by local monks for drinking tea. The Zen monks were so impressed by the visual, tactile, and functional qualities of the bowls that they brought them back to Japan in order to use them for the same purpose and dubbed them temmoku (or tenmoku), the Japanese pronunciation of Tianmu, in honor of the place where they first encountered them. Once in Japan, the bowls were adopted by Japanese tea masters and contributed significantly to the development of styles within the Japanese tea ceremony. Consequently, temmoku has become the universally accepted term to describe these nacreous black wares.

Although in China the production of black-glazed tea ware began to decline in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), with kilns converting to the production of qingbai-type wares, in Japan whipped tea continued to be ritually prepared and consumed in the tea ceremony. There, temmoku tea bowls were admired and treasured for centuries to come. They were incorporated into family traditions of densei, the passing down of cherished objects to the next generation within a lineage, and accrued prestige with each subsequent transmission. Within the densei system, Song dynasty ceramics were particularly valued. To accord with their exalted status and brilliance, temmoku tea bowls were sometimes paired with ancient mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer stands, were wrapped in custom-made silk pouches, and were stored in cushioned paulownia boxes. It is in Japan that many of the most striking examples of Jian wares are preserved. The present ‘Jian’ bowl is one such example. Its unblemished surface testifies to its history as a family heirloom in Japan.

A wide range of different temmoku bowls are in the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, included in Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics I, Tokyo, 1988 pls. 635-640; another bowl with a highly iridescent glaze, in the Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, is illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshu / Ceramic Art of the World. Sung Dynasty, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 253; and a further bowl from the collection of Diane H. Shafer, is published in Mowry, op. cit., pl. 82. Three exemplary ‘Jian’ tea bowls have recently sold at auction, including a silver-streaked edition from the Pilkington collection at our Hong Kong rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 12; an ‘oil spot’ bowl from the Linyushanren collection at Christie’s New York, 15th September 2016, lot 707; and a blue-toned version at our London rooms, 9th November 2016, lot 108.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 14 Mar 2017, 10:30 AM

Lot 603. A small 'Yaozhou' celadon-glazed mallow-form dish, Northern Song-Jin Dynasty. Estimate 3,000 — 4,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

delicately modeled with the shallow rounded sides rising from a recessed base to a furled foliate rim, covered overall with a lustrous olive-green glaze stopping short of the base to reveal the gray stoneware body. Diameter 3 7/8  in., 9.7 cm