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A blue and white 'Double-phoenix' saucer dish, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795)

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A blue and white 'Double-phoenix' saucer dish, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795)

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Lot 3147. A blue and white 'Double-phoenix' saucer dish, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 16.5 cm., 6 1/2  in. Estimate 120,000 — 180,000 HKD. Lot sold 237,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

with shallow rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to a flared rim, decorated on the interior in shaded tones of cobalt with a male and a female phoenix confronting amidst clouds, distinguished by their curling and serrated tail feathers spreading out within double circles repeated at the rim, the exterior similarly decorated with a couple of phoenix gliding among clouds with outstretched wings and tail feathers, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character seal mark.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013


A white-glazed ritual food vessel, fu, Incised mark and period of Guangxu (1875-1908)

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A white-glazed ritual food vessel, fu, Incised mark and period of Guangxu (1875-1908)

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Lot 3083. A white-glazed ritual food vessel, fu, Incised mark and period of Guangxu (1875-1908); width 29.5 cm., 11 5/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 250,000 HKD. Lot sold 225,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of archaistic form and rectangular section, supported on a splayed base divided by arched openings forming four corner feet, the box with steep flaring sides moulded with zoomorphic archaistic mythical beasts and angular scrolls, above a key-fret border and lappet panels around the foot, the cover surmounted by a flanged gallery with wavy outline, similarly moulded with confronting stylised phoenix below concentric arches around the top, set with a pair of loop handles issuing from animal heads on each side of the box and cover, all beneath a smooth transparent glaze slightly tinged to blue, the base incised with a six-character reign mark.

Note: Another vessel of this type from The Yangzhitang Collection, illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing from the Kwan Collection, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983, cat. no. 148, was sold Christie's Singapore, 30th March 1997, and Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1304.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

An incised white-glazed 'anhua' jar, Ming dynasty, Jiajing period (1522-1566)

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An incised white-glazed 'anhua' jar, Ming dynasty, Jiajing period (1522-1566)

Lot 3058. An incised white-glazed 'anhua' jar, Ming dynasty, Jiajing period (1522-1566); 21.5 cm., 8 3/8  in. Estimate 100,000 — 120,000 HKD. Lot sold 187,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

the broad-shouldered baluster body rising from a recessed base to a short tapered neck, freely incised around the exterior with a leafy lotus scroll band, all above a lotus-lappet band and covered overall in a milky-white glaze.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

A biscuit-decorated 'Dragon' dish, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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biscuit-decorated 'Dragon' dish, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521)

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Lot 3178. A biscuit-decorated 'Dragon' dish, mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521); 18.1 cm., 7 1/8  in. Estimate 120,000 — 180,000 HKD. Lot sold 175,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

with shallow rounded sides rising from a short slightly tapered foot to an everted rim, applied overall with a rich transparent glaze slightly tinged to green, save for a five-clawed dragon incised on the interior writhing among stylised clouds within a central medallion, its head, scaly body and limbs reserved on the biscuit and fired pale orange, the exterior with two five-clawed dragons striding above crashing waves and rocks, similarly incised and reserved on the biscuit, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within double circles.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

A carved lime-green glazed 'Landscape' brushpot by Wang Bingrong, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period (1821-1850)

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A carved lime-green glazed 'Landscape' brushpot by Wang Bingrong, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period (1821-1850)

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Lot 3081. A carved lime-green glazed 'Landscape' brushpot by Wang Bingrong, Qing dynasty, Daoguang period (1821-1850); 13.1 cm., 5 1/8  in. Estimate 80,000 — 100,000 HKD. Lot sold 162,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of cylindrical section, finely carved around the exterior with a continuous landscape depicting houses built on a rocky shore among wutong trees, one side with a fisherman rafting on finely rippled waters and, on the other, two sages crossing over a footbridge toward further dwellings on a nearby island, all below rocky hills scattered with pines and tall misty mountains in the distance, applied overall with a bright lime-green glaze save for the broad footring left unglazed, the recessed base inscribed with a four-character Wang Binrong seal mark in relief within a panel.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

A pair of white-glazed anhua-decorated 'Dragon' bowls, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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A pair of white-glazed anhua-decorated 'Dragon' bowls, Qing dynasty, 18th century

 Lot 3076. A pair of white-glazed anhua-decorated 'Dragon' bowls, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 9.5 cm., 3 3/4  in. Estimate 80,000 — 100,000 HKD. Lot sold 100,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

each with deep rounded sides rising from a narrow cylindrical foot to a flared rim, subtly decorated in faint anhua with two scaly five-clawed dragons in mutual pursuit around the interior walls, further applied overall with a smooth transparent glaze.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16th May 1989, lot 176.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

A café-au-lait-glazed dish, seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820)

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A café-au-lait-glazed dish, seal mark and period of Jiaqing

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Lot 3073. A café-au-lait-glazed dish, seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820); 19.5 cm., 7 3/4  in. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 HKD. Lot sold 87,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

the shallow rounded sides supported on a short tapered foot, the interior faintly impressed with a slightly recessed ring in the centre, applied overall with a rich persimmon-coloured glaze accented by a slight iridescence, save for the base left white and inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

An extremely rare archaic jade ornament, huang, possibly Liangzhu culture, Neolithic period-Shang dynasty

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An extremely rare archaic jade ornament, huang, possibly Liangzhu culture, Neolithic period-Shang dynasty

Lot 3014. An extremely rare archaic jade ornament, huang, possibly Liangzhu culture, Neolithic period-Shang dynasty. Estimation 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 2,440,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of crescent form, perforated at both ends, the longer side decorated in low relief with six mythical-animal masks of various sizes, with the central two being the largest, and those at the ends the smallest, four of which face one direction while the remaining two the other, the stone with a smooth surface of a warm celadon-tinged yellow tone streaked with natural toffee-brown inclusions and veining, yellow silk pouch; 19.6 cm., 7 3/4  in.

Note: A huang of this type, but both ends carved with more pronounced dragon heads and both the top and bottom decorated with oval masks, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Teng Shu-ping, Neolithic Jades in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, pl. 22.

Masks with large eyes are common in Liangzhu jades but the eyes on these huang differ in their long, straight and oval pupils rather than the conventional slanting ovoid pupils. The Liangzhu culture (3400-2250 BC) was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The culture was highly stratified, with jade, silk, ivory and lacquer found exclusively in elite burials while pottery was more commonly found in the burial plots of poorer individuals. The jade from this culture is characterised by finely-worked large ritual jades, commonly incised with taotie motifs.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013 


An imperial celadon jade 'Han Chun Tang' seal, Qing dynasty, Jiaqing period (1796-1820)

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An imperial celadon jade 'Han Chun Tang' seal, Qing dynasty, Jiaqing period (1796-1820)

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Lot 3013. An imperial celadon jade 'Han Chun Tang' seal, Qing dynasty, Jiaqing period (1796-1820); 6 by 4.1 cm., 2 3/8  by 1 5/8  inEstimation 750,000 — 950,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,840,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of rectangular form, surmounted by a pair of addorsed dragons, each deftly carved with bulging eyes and flared nostrils above curling whiskers and a partially open mouth revealing sharp fangs, the scales and flowing mane finely defined with incisions, the two muscular bodies tightly intertwined and crouching low on the haunches, pierced through the centre with an aperture to thread a tassel, the underside deeply carved in positive script with the three characters Han Chun Tang (Hall of the Preservation of Purity) flanked between two stylised kui dragons, the stone of a pale moss-green tone mottled with icy inclusions and finished with a smooth patina.

Note: The Hanchuntang (Hall of the Preservation of Purity) was built during the Kangxi period in the West of the Shenghua Temple, located in the Haidian district in Beijing. The Shenghua Temple was favoured as a residence by the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors during their travels. It was destroyed during the late Qing period.

The present jade seal is recorded in the Jiajing Baoshou.  For another Jiaqing double dragon seal, see one carved from white jade to commemorate the emperor’s sixtieth birthday, on the 24th year of his reign (corresponding to 1819), sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2005, lot 1235.

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Impression from “The Jiaqing Baoshou”, The Palace Museum, Beijing.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013 

Powerful depiction of Picasso's 'Golden Muse' emerges onto the market for first time

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Property from a Distinguished Private Collection. Pablo Picasso, Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter), oil on canvas, 55 by 46cm. Painted on 4th December 1937. Estimate upon requestCourtesy Sotheby’s.

LONDON.- A painting of heightened psychological intensity, Pablo Picasso’s Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) brings to a climax a turbulent and highly charged year. The great masterpiece of his career Guernica was created in 1937, and in the final month of that momentous year he painted this vivid, poignant and intense image of his golden muse Marie-Thérèse Walter. This defining work will be offered for the first time as a star lot of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London on 28 February 2018. 

Helena Newman, Global Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department & Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, said: ‘With such a strong appetite for Picasso’s work from across the globe, this defining portrait from a pivotal year in the oeuvre of the most globally recognised artist is the perfect piece to headline our first major season of 2018. It is all the more remarkable to be able to offer a painting of this calibre that has never been seen on the market before.’ 

PICASSO’S WEEPING WOMEN: THE YEARS OF MARIE-THÉRÈSE & DORA MAAR 
The women of Picasso’s life are the fulcrum of his creative genius, unquestionably essential to his creative and intellectual processes. Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) charts Picasso’s evolving relationship with his muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, to whom he was ostensibly still devoted at the time, and the increasingly dominant presence of his new lover Dora Maar. Indeed, the work appears to have been used as a means for exploring his feelings for the two women. There is a conscious blurring of the two styles inspired by the two muses, reaching its pinnacle in the silhouetted ‘other’ that emerges from behind the main subject. Whether it represents Maar or indeed a self-portrait, the implication is that of duality and conflict. Picasso is quoted: ‘It must be painful for a girl to see in a painting that she is on the way out’. 

The beginning of the decade marked a period of sublime happiness for Picasso, as witnessed in the extraordinarily sensual and lyrical paintings of Marie-Thérèse in 1932 – which are the subject of the current acclaimed exhibition at Musée Picasso in Paris and will feature in a forthcoming show at Tate Modern in London. This extremely dynamic painting reveals just how much things had changed for him in the intervening five years. The work’s sharp cubistic edges, thick impastoed paint and black outlines give it an immediate visual impact – the emphatic execution and bold palette packed with emotional charge. The depiction of Marie-Thérèse has matured from the voluptuous curves and sleepy, passive suggestiveness to the woman who gave birth to Picasso’s child. The portrait suggests that she continued to be of central importance to the artist. 

1937: GUERNICA & THE POLITICISATION OF PICASSO 
These personal disruptions in 1937 were mirrored by wider political unrest in the artist’s native Spain, the year marked by a succession of shattering events including the bombing of the small town of Guernica in Basque Spain – which prompted the grand masterpiece Guernica and a harrowing series of weeping women. This portrait, with its green welling tears, has been identified as a continuation of and counterbalance to the sequence of weeping women: ‘[she is] entirely reduced to inner tears – a resigned sadness, nonetheless suffused with love.’1 

Thomas Bompard, Head of Sotheby’s London Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales, said: ‘One of the greatest portraits by Picasso to appear on the market in recent years, this depiction of Marie-Thérèse from the 1930s – painted in the same year as Guernica and the Weeping Women – reveals Picasso’s mastery of the modern portrait. Of all of the artist’s styles and decades, this is the one that most epitomises the legacy of Picasso as a portraitist of women – with this particular painting encompassing all of the key elements for which he is recognised and celebrated. It undoubtedly represents what is most desirable for a connoisseur and collector of modern art.’ 

1 Josep Palau i Fabre.

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Pablo Picasso, Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter), December 1937. Courtesy Sotheby’s.

 

A fine and rare spinach jade bowl with an imperial poem, carved seal mark and period of Qianlong, dated to the bingyin year 1746

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A fine and rare spinach jade bowl with an imperial poem, Carved seal mark and period of Qianlong, dated to the bingyin year (174

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Lot 3009. A fine and rare spinach jade bowl with an imperial poem, carved seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795), dated to the bingyin year (1746); 13 cm., 5 1/8  in. Estimation 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,960,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

finely carved with rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim, carved on the exterior with an Imperial poem Sanqing Cha ('Three Purity Tea') picked out with gold, dated to the bingyin year of the Qianlong reign corresponding to 1746, followed by two seals, the base carved with a six-character reign mark, the greenish black stone mottled with lighter translucent speckles.

ProvenanceSotheby's New York, 26th February 1982, lot 471.

NoteThe poem can be translated as follows:

'Three Purities Tea', dated to 13th November-22nd December 1746

Yuzhi shiji ('The Anthology od Imperial Qianlong Poems'), Chuji ('First Collection'), (Siku quanshu ed.), 36:17a-17b.

Though the colour of plum blossoms charms not,
The finger citron, really fragrant,
And taste of pine nuts, fresh and rich,
Give this three-flavour tea a purity unique.
Simmered in a shallow pan with a broken leg
And steeped in snow brought in a basket,
The heat and time just right to distinguish fish from crab,
Vapour off the cauldron appearing and vanishing,
Then into a Yue kiln cup the milk of immortality is poured.
My felt yurt is just right for the joy of mystic trance, 
And with the five aggregates mostly purified
Enlightenment might happen but never be explained.
Richly fragrant, sweet floss spreading,
Filled with vital energy, a cloud of nectar seeping in,
It's a worthy beverage for Wu Chuan,
And in appreciation Lin Pu would judge it special.
But I'm reluctant to be a Zhaozhou and offer it around,
And rather scorn the oddities of a Jade River,
So, night cold, listening to the clepsydra drip,
Ancient moon, looking like a jade thumb ring, hanging in the sky,
I drink my fill using up what's left
And polish up the lines of this poem.

1. The emperor adds the note: 'Snow water in which plum blossoms, pine nuts, and fingered citron ['Buddha's Hand'] have been steeped to drink is called 'Three Purities' tea.
2. lines 7-8:  The heat and timing are adjusted to brew the perfect tea, which preserves the three distinct flavours, just as when preparing seafood broth, the distinct flavours of fish and crab are preserved by careful adjustment of fire and length of cooking time; cooking too much would blend the flavours into one taste.  The heat is adjusted to a perfect delicate simmer so that the liquid barely steams. 
3. Yue kiln cup: famous ware made during the Tang dynasty, the kiln located in Zhejiang.
4.  Five aggregates:  the five skandhas, compositional elements of existence, form, feeling, perception, impulse, consciousness.
5. Felt yurt: the emperor is away from the Forbidden City.  Pages nearby in the poetry collection contains poems he composed while on the road through Dingxing, not far southwest of Beijing in Hebei, and then farther south to Zhaozhou. 
6. Wu Quan, a legendary immortal of remote antiquity, is said, significant here, to have subsisted entirely on pine nuts.  Lin Pu (967-1028), poet and calligrapher, was also famous, equally  significant, for growing plum trees.
7. Zhaozhou:  The Tang dynasty eminent monk Congnian taught most of his career at the Guanyin Temple in Zhaozhou, Hebei. The Buddhist context suggest that the emperor not only has the place Zhaozhou in mind but also this eminent monk.
8. 'Jade River' is the name of a well in Jiyuan, Henan, whose water was favoured by the poet Lu Tong (795-835) to brew tea, so Lu got the sobriquet Yuchuan zi ('Master Jade River').  Lu composed wild and weird poetry, difficult to interpret and full of bizarre diction, none of which pleased the emperor. 

Qianlong wrote this poem in the binyin year (corresponding to 1746) on the occasion of his 36th birthday while sipping tea in his studio on a cold winter day and reflecting on his love of tea as well as the virtues of tea making. The poem is included in the Qianlong Emperor's Yuzhi shi chuji ('The Anthology of Imperial Qianlong Poems), juan 36. Every New Year the emperor held a tea drinking banquet in the Chonghua Gong ('Palace of Cherished Glory') in the Forbidden City, where he asked his guests to compose poetry. As a token of his appreciation he rewarded the best poet with a Sanqing cha ('Three Purities Tea') bowl.  

Jade tea bowls inscribed with the Sanqing cha ('Three Purities Tea') poem are rare and are more commonly found in porcelain, decorated either in iron-red or blue and white, as well as in lacquer. A nearly identical bowl was sold three times in auctions, Christie's New York, 6th June 1985, lot 375, Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2nd May 2000, lot 585, and recently Christie's Hong Kong, 30th November 2011, lot 2964. A slightly smaller tea bowl of this form and inscription, but with a cover and carved from white jade, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th November 2005, lot 1648; and another white jade example, but with a slightly incurved rim, was sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2005, lot 526. 

A porcelain bowl inscribed with this poem in underglaze blue was included in the Special exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 142; and two iron-red examples were included in the exhibition Late Chinese Imperial Porcelain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1980, cat. no. 1. For an example in lacquer, see a bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Sir Harry M. Garner, Chinese Lacquer, London, 1979, pl. 93; and a pair of bowls from the Tianjin Municipal Art Museum, published in Zhongguo qiqi quanji, vol. 6, Fuzhou, 1993, pl. 211.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013 

An imperially inscribed imperial octagonal inkstone, Qianlong period, dated to the bingshen year, 1776

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Lot 3008. An imperially inscribed imperial octagonal inkstone, Qianlong period, dated to the bingshen year, 1776; 14.7 cm., 5 3/4  in. Estimation 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,360,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

the She inkstone of flat octagonal form, carved to one side with a slightly graded surface pooling the water in a small well, the recessed base on the reverse inscribed with a long poem dated to the bingshen year (corresponding to 1776), followed by two seals, De chong fu ('Sign of Virtue Within') and Hui xin bu yuan('Enlightened Mind Not Far'), below a five-character title at the top reading Fang Tang Guanxiang yan ('Imitating the Tang dynasty Inkstone of Observing Heaven'), fitted zitan box.

Provenance: Purchased in Qingdao, circa 1908 (by repute).
Baude Collection, Dresden (by repute).
Sotheby’s London, 16th May 2007, lot 283.

Exhibited: Ostasiatische Kunst Museum, Berlin, 2001-2003.
The Imperial Studio, Littleton and Hennessy Asian Art, London, 2009, cat. no. 15

Note: The inscription can be translated as follows:

 Imitation Tang Guanxiang ('Observing Heaven') Inkstone

The ancient sage observed heaven,
And put his ideas to pen.
Although eight trigrams were drawn,
Their principles were primordial.
Who has made this inkstone
To expound on The Book of Changes?
With four sides and four corners,
Neither a square nor a circle,
Further adding yin and yang,
Now all components are present.
Playful words to add on it,
Choosing a stone to imitate it.
Dripping dew to grind ink red,
It will aid me till the end of day.
Imperial inscription on the New Year's Day of the bingshen year

The present inkstone takes its form from one of the ten old inkstones of particular fine quality from the palace collection chosen by the Qianlong Emperor in the 14th year of his reign (1749) to be bestowed with a name and dating. The first of these inkstones was an octagonal duan stone, named Guanxiang and attributed to the Tang period by the emperor. A closely related example, carved with the same poem, was sold in these rooms, 8th April 2011, lot 2810.

The current inkstone is made of the highly-prized She stone, a dark slate and siltstone produced in the Shexian area in Anhui. Its tight structure makes it particularly suited for grinding ink. Many scholars consider She a superior stone to Duan. Ouyang Xiu (AD 1007–1072) for example claimed that She stone from Longwei is far superior to any other stone for ink grinding. Calligrapher Cai Xiang (1012–1067) also preferred She stone, and went as far as comparing it to the famous jade disc Heshibi.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

'Paint the Eyes Softer' explores the art and science of Roman-Egyptian mummies

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Mummy portrait (of a woman), wood, 31.7x23 cm., from Tebtunis, Fayum. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California. (6-21376)

EVANSTON, ILL.- The Block Museum of Art and the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University delve into the art and science of ancient artifacts in the upcoming exhibition “Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt,” on view through through April 22. 

Paint the Eyes Softer” ​brings to Northwestern a series of mummy portraits produced in Egypt during the Roman period, a complete intact portrait mummy and other archeological finds from the Fayum region. 

The groundbreaking installation was co-curated by Marc Walton, research professor of materials science and engineering at McCormick and senior scientist at NU-ACCESS (Northwestern University/ Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Study in the Arts); Taco Terpstra, assistant professor of classics and history in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences; and Essi Rönkkö, Block Museum curatorial associate, working in consultation with a group of Northwestern undergraduate student researchers. 

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Mummy portrait (of a man with a wreath), wood, from Tebtunis, Fayum. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California. (6-2378b).

Ancient Portraits 
A series of rare Roman-Egyptian funerary portraits on view within the exhibition were painted on wooden panels between the first and third centuries A.D. in Egypt. These visages of the dead were originally secured over the face of the deceased within the mummy wrappings. 

When these works were excavated at the beginning of the 20th century, they transformed the world with their immediacy, thought to reveal naturalistic, individual likenesses of people who lived 2,000 years ago. Some of the earliest portraits in existence, these paintings offer viewers a face-to-face encounter with the past. The words on one sketch board still bear personal instructions to an artist of an earlier millennium: “(paint the) eyes softer,” it indicates in Greek. 

The majority of the objects on view at the Block, which were excavated from the site of Tebtunis (now Umm-el-Breigat, Egypt), are loans from the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. One of the largest collections of Roman portraits to have remained intact since excavation, they provide a rare opportunity to study the material microhistory of painting tradition in a known context and to explore how ancient paintings were created. 

It is extremely exciting to have not only a large number of rare mummy portraits on display but also the only known annotated sketch of what was to become yet another portrait,” Terpstra said. “It represents a moment frozen in time. We are witnessing the process of artistic creation, providing a unique experience for the curators as well as the visitors to the exhibit. I am really proud of both our Weinberg College and McCormick School students. They have done a fantastic job of getting the most out of this fascinating material.”  

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Mummy portrait (of an older man), wood, from Tebtunis, Fayum. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California. (6-21380).

The Hibbard Mummy 
The intact mummy of a young girl from the collection of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on the Northwestern University campus complements the Tebtunis portraits in the exhibition. This complete mummy with a portrait embedded in its wrappings comes from the site of Hawara, a site close to Tebtunis in the Fayum region of Egypt. 

The mummy, known as the Hibbard mummy or Hawara Portrait Mummy No. 4, is a portrait mummy of a young girl, approximately 5 years old. Acquired by the seminary in 2009, the mummy was previously loaned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2000 for an exhibit entitled "Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Ancient Egypt." The Block Museum exhibition has provided a new opportunity to examine this artifact. 

Rachel Sabino, associate conservator of objects in the department of conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago was the member of a multidisciplinary team of specialists who recently performed treatment on and oversaw handling, packing and transport of the Hibbard mummy. 

The extended period of study permitted a thorough evaluation of the mummy’s condition, and as a result of these interdisciplinary discussions, much of the overlying, encrusting burial soil was reduced in order to eliminate strain on the wrappings and to make the surface more uniformly responsive to environmental changes, thus providing for the mummy’s long-term stability,” Sabino said. “This action yielded the ancillary benefit of enhancing the mummy’s legibility by more clearly articulating the pattern of the underlying wrappings and differentiating them from secondary wrappings.”  

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Housed permanently at the Styberg Library at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on Northwestern University's Evanston campus, the Hibbard mummy is currently on loan to Northwestern's Block Museum of Art.

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Exhibition as Laboratory 
In addition to the objects themselves, “Paint the Eyes Softer” highlights innovative techniques for the scientific study of objects. In recent years, the paintings have been the focus of a systematic study conducted by NU­ACCESS and UC Berkeley using a variety of imaging techniques. Recent scientific analysis conducted by NU-ACCESS has determined that some of the wood used in the creation of the panels was local, while some of it was brought in from the Balkans in southeastern Europe, opening interesting questions about ancient local economies and long-distance trade. 

Students enrolled in an advanced undergraduate seminar in fall 2017 worked with exhibition curators Terpstra and Walton to continue the research of the NU-ACCESS project, combining materials science, archaeology and museum studies. Students conducted hands-on work in a laboratory environment to assess how ancient materials were made, used and buried and what this data means in a wider archaeological context. 

As a capstone to this course, the students scientifically analyzed the Hibbard portrait mummy to collect meaningful scientific data. This materials-based approach provides new insights into the economic, historical and social context for art-making in the Fayum region and Roman Egypt. 

The multidisciplinary course built upon findings from the research paper “A Roman Egyptian Painting Workshop: Technical Investigation of the Portraits from Tebtunis, Egypt,” authored by Walton and collaborators and published in the journal Archaeometry. 

This exhibit and class is an extension of my research over the past decade into Greco-Roman painting in Egypt,” Walton said. “It has been a pleasure to teach this technical and historical content to the students, to expose them to the gaps in our knowledge and to watch them respond to these problems with alacrity and enthusiasm. By bringing together students from engineering and the humanities, we have seen them come up with some unexpected and welcome conclusions that demonstrate their critical-thinking skills.” 

In addition, students in a seminar on sound design, taught by Northwestern professor Stephan Moore, developed a unique soundscape for the exhibition. Through presentations, discussions, field trips and technical demonstrations, they explored the current state of sound design for museum exhibitions. As a final project, the students created a fully realized soundscape for the exhibition.  

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VIS-NIR-Fluorescence comparison of Mummy portrait. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California and NU-ACCESS. (6-2378b).

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VIS-NIR-Fluorescence comparison of Mummy portrait. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California and NU-ACCESS. (6-21376).

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Photometric stereo surface shape visualization of Mummy portrait. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California and NU-ACCESS. (6-2378b).

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Photometric stereo surface shape visualization of Mummy portrait. Courtesy of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California and NU-ACCESS. (6-21376).

Interdisciplinary research 
The exhibition is presented as part of an ongoing art and engineering partnership between McCormick and the Block Museum that has included visiting artists, exhibitions and residencies focused on the productive intersections of creativity and scientific research. 

This unique exhibition is quintessentially Northwestern, arising from the DNA of the institution that values partnership and interdisciplinary inquiry,” said Lisa Corrin, the Block Museum Ellen Philips Katz Director. “Our students and faculty are able to come to significant, field-advancing findings by collaborating across multiple fields of expertise. 

This exhibition not only brings to Northwestern some of the most significant early portraits in existence, but demonstrates the way that art and engineering can come together in extraordinary ways,” Corrin said. 

This exhibit is just one of the many ways we are continuing to expand the intersection between art and engineering,” McCormick dean Julio M. Ottino said. “In addition to providing the tools of engineering to study the history of art, our partnership provides opportunities for engineers and artists to learn how each other works and thinks, expanding their own abilities in the process.”

A rare rhinoceros horn belt buckle, 17th century

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A rare rhinoceros horn belt buckle, 17th  century

Lot 3171. A rare rhinoceros horn belt buckle, 17th  century; length 6.2 cm., 2 3/8  in. Estimate 250,000 — 350,000 HKD. Lot sold 875,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of rectangular outline, carved with a dragon emerging from swirling waters capped with frothy waves, the well-formed dragon's head extending beyond the edge on one side, all surrounding a rectangular white jade plaque set in the centre, the short sides pierced with a slotted opening for attachment, the horn shading from light amber to brown.

Provenance: Acquired in New York, 2009.

NoteGarment accessories carved in rhinoceros horn are extremely rare and the present finely fashioned belt buckle appears to be the only example known from this group of utilitarian pieces. The carving of the dragon is skilfully executed with the lines of the tumultuous waves expertly incised giving the composition a sense of movement and life.

For examples of rhinoceros horn accessories, see a dragon form belt hook, attributed to the Qianlong period, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Thomas Fok, Connoisseurship of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 181; and a small flint container carved with the same 'dragon and wave' motif, in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in Jan Chapman, The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pl. 109.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

An agate brushwasher, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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An agate brushwasher, Qing dynasty, 18th century

Lot 3156. An agate brushwasher, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 13 cm., 5 1/8  in. Estimate 180,000 — 250,000 HKD. Lot sold 225,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

carved in the form of a furled vine leaf with two squirrels set on the rim and two birds and a butterfly perched on its sides, detailed with incised veins, attendant leaves and undulating stems bearing riped grapes picked out with fine russet specks, the pale brown translucent stone mottled with amber inclusions and crimson-red streaks.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013


A boxwood 'lingzhi' ruyi sceptre, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century

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Lot 3164. A boxwood 'lingzhi'ruyi sceptre, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century; 40.5 cm., 15 7/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Lot sold 250,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

naturalistically carved in openwork in the form of a gnarled branch of lingzhi, the terminal shaped in the form of a large fungus head, the crooked shaft issuing a secondary sprig sprouting an attendant fungus and a third fungus at the bottom forming a loop allowing for a tassel, the wood of rich toffee-brown colour with a smooth patina.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

A carved bamboo 'Liu Hai' brushpot, signed Wu Zhifan, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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Lot 3167. A carved bamboo 'Liu Hai' brushpot, signed Wu Zhifan, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 15.3 cm., 6 in. Estimate 200,000 — 250,000 HKD. Lot sold 250,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's 2013

of cylindrical form, deftly carved through the reddish-brown surface to the paler striated ground beneath, depicting Liu hai standing below tall knotty pines, the corpulent immortal carrying a broom on his shoulder supporting his three-leg toad companion, clutching a double gourd in his left hand and a tasseled coin in the right, a veil draping his shoulder and bare torso, the reverse incised with a four-column poetic inscription in clerical script signed Wu Zhifan zhi, fitted with a hardwood rim and tripod base, the latter apocryphally inscribed with an appreciation signed Da Cheng and dated to the winter of the Jichou year of Guangxu (1899) with seal reading Ke Zhai ('Studio of Respect').

NoteWu Zhifan was active in the Kangxi period and is recorded as the first to carve figures and other forms in low relief on an almost plain background. Wu is said to have acquired the traditional Jiading style and excelled in high-relief carving. It was however, his distinctive style of depicting figures in shallow relief against minimal background and his depiction of pine trees which made him renowned among the bamboo carving artists of the period. 

For more information on Wu, see a bamboo brushpot from the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection currently being offered in these rooms, Scholarly Art IIIlot 188.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong, 08 april 2013

A blue and white slender cylindrical brushpot, Transitional period, circa 1640

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A blue and white slender cylindrical brushpot, Transitional period, circa 1640

Lot 94. A blue and white slender cylindrical brushpot, Transitional period, circa 1640; 15.2cm., 6in. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBPLot sold 6,500 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's 2008

delicately painted with an immortal seated on a tree trunk in a landscape with a retreat, pine trees and swirling clouds, between an incised band of scrolling flowers at the rim and a band of stylized leaves at the base

Provenance: Commander F Warrington-Strong DSC.

ExhibitedThe Chinese Scholars Desk, 17th to 18th century, Oriental Ceramics Society, 1979, No 3.

Chinese Ceramics: The Indian Connection,  Oriental Ceramics Society, 1982, no 21.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 05 Nov 08. London. 

Nicola Samori’s dark, Baroque-inspired oil paintings

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Nicola Samori, La notte di Bartolomeo, 2017. Fresco, 78 7/10 × 58 3/10 in, 200 × 148 cm. Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin. Photo: Rolando Paolo Guerzoni.

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Nicola Samori, Aperto (Il bene di Paolo), 2015. Oil on wood, 39 2/5 × 39 2/5 in, 100 × 100 cm. Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin.

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Nicola Samori, Il corpo squisito, 2017. Oil on copper, 33 1/2 × 19 7/10 in, 85 × 50 cm. Courtesy the artist and Monitor, Rome.

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Nicola Samori, Storia esemplare della carne, 2017. Oil on copper, 39 2/5 × 39 2/5 in, 100 × 100 cm. Courtesy the artist and Monitor, Rome.

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Nicola Samori, ‘Untitled’, 2017. Oil on copper 59 1/10 × 78 7/10 in, 150 × 200 cm. Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin.

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Nicola Samori, ‘June 27 - Crowned’, 2014. Oil on copper, 47 1/5 × 39 2/5 in, 120 × 100 cm. Courtesy Rosenfeld Porcini, London.

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Nicola Samori, ‘aveeva’, 2017. Oil on copper, 19 7/10 × 15 7/10 in, 50 × 40 cm. Courtesy the artist and Monitor, Rome.

Italian, b. 1977, Forlì, Italy, based in Bagnacavallo, Italy

Nicola Samori’s dark, Baroque-inspired oil paintings are skillful reproductions of classical portraits and still lifes on canvas, wood, or copper, purposefully destroyed to negate classical representation and question painting itself. His process entails “skinning” his painted figures with a palette knife or diluent, layering another image on top, and repeating the process until images fuse and signs of erasure and scratching dominate the reworked surface. Samori explains that exposing the inside of the paint by removing layers of “skin” with a scalpel reveals “a freshness and an intensity unknown in the outer tones.”

A fine blue and white 'Eight Immortals' bowl, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)

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A fine blue and white 'Eight Immortals' bowl, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722)

Lot 95. A fine blue and white 'Eight Immortals' bowl, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); 13.4cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBPLot sold 10,625 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's 2008

the exterior painted with a continuous scene depicting the 'Eight Immortals' in a garden, the interior painted with ruyi, a deer and a pine tree in the form of a shou character

Provenance: Commander F Warrington-Strong DSC.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 05 Nov 08. London

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