Small Yaozhou Shallow Bowl, Five Dynasties, 10th c., A.D., China. Diameter: 12cm. © Zetterquist Galleries.

A small shallow stoneware bowl with a finely formed unglazed foot rim and thinly glaze underfoot fired to a russet brown color. The bowl is covered with a sweet pale green glaze that thins at the rim. Although reminiscent of later “moon white” glazes, this piece represents a rare perfectly fired tenth century example.

An example of the same type with steeper walls is published in “Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ceramics”, Osaka Museum of Oriental Ceramics, 1997. Pl. 18.

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries 

Yaozhou Peony Plate, Northern Song Dynasty, 960-1127 A.D., China. Diameter: 19cm. © Zetterquist Galleries.

A stoneware plate with flared outer walls and notched foliate form mouthrim. The flattened bottom sits on a finely cut foot-rim, which is unglazed at the very bottom, revealing a dense gray stoneware body. The outside walls are decorated with lightly incised fluting, and the inside of the bowl is deeply and masterfully carved and combed with a depiction of a peony. The entire piece is covered with an ideal olive green celadon glaze. Some surface scratching and glaze fritting around the foot-rim. 

A similar piece is depicted in the Osaka Museum of Oriental Ceramics’ 1997 publication “Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ceramics”, pl. 63.

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries 

Yaozhou Leaf-shaped Box with Phoenix, Song- Jin Dynasty, 960-1279 A.D., China. Length: 11.5cm x Height: 3.8cm© Zetterquist Galleries.

A molded ceramic box of leaf shape with pale grey stoneware body covered with a layer of slip with a translucent bubbly olive green glaze. The glaze covers the top, sides, and inside with the mouth lip and bottom remaining unglazed. The lid is decorated with a molded impression of scrolling leaves around the top edge and a crisply molded phoenix in the heart-shaped center panel. This piece is in excellent condition with minute burial encrustations on the interior and lip.

The phoenix “Feng Huang” is extremely rare in Yaozhou ceramics, and is symbolizes either the empress or marital felicitations when depicted in pairs. 

From a private Japanese collection. 

Pair of Longquan Celadon Vases, Southern Song Dynasty, 1127-1279 A.D., China. Heights: 15.9cm and 16.1cm. © Zetterquist Galleries.

A well-matched pair of baluster form vases with bulbous bodies sitting on a straight foot. The long necks end in a slightly cupped mouth-rim. Each piece is entirely covered in a beautifully realized pale green celadon glaze. The bottoms of the feet are unglazed revealing gray stoneware clay bodies fired to a russet color. (One foot with minute chip.) As these were likely produced as altar vases, they were intended to be seen as a pair, and we are fortunate to find two such well-matched pieces together.

A similar “kinuta” colored piece of same form and size published in Chinese Ceramics in the Karl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964. pl. 96. Another similar example is published in Regina Krahl’s 1994 catalog of the Meiyintang Collection, Volume 1, no. 555.

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries

Large Longquan Celadon Bowl with Twin Fish Appliques, Southern Song – Yuan Dynasty, 13th-14th century, A.D., China. Diameter: 19.5cm© Zetterquist Galleries.

A large shallow bowl (often considered to be a brushwasher) with flattened rim, steep cavetto and broad flattened bottom, decorated with finely molded appliques of two fish swimming around each other, a Chinese symbol of marital bliss. The outside walls carved with overlapping lotus petals. The entire piece is covered with a translucent crackled Longquan celadon glaze (some areas of surface scratching). The bottom of the foot rim is unglazed, revealing a dense stoneware body of pale gray color.

Two identical pieces can be found in “Heavenly Blue; Southern Song Celadons, Nezu Museum, 2012. pl. 42 and 43.

Celadon Censer, Yuan Dynasty, 1271-1368 A.D., China. Diameter: 17.5cm© Zetterquist Galleries.

A large round censer with straight walls decorated with raised ridges and a band of Taoist (Trinary) symbols. The entire piece sits on its foot rim, but has three small feet attached to the bottom of the vessel. It is covered with an opaque pale green Longquan celadon glaze. There is an unglazed ring underneath where the piece was supported during its firing. Together with a wooden Japanese box and basket-weave silver dome, both late 19th century Japanese additions.

From a private Japanese collection.

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

DUBLIN.- A masterpiece of fifteenth-century illumination, the Coëtivy Hours is one of the Treasures of the Library’s Western Collection. To celebrate the 50th-anniversary of Chester Beatty’s Gift to the Irish Nation, the Library is presenting a special exhibition focusing on a manuscript given by Edith Beatty to her husband. It was produced in Paris (1443-1445) for Prigent de Coëtivy, bibliophile and Admiral of France, to mark the occasion of his marriage to Marie de Rais. The manuscript is made from parchment and comprises 364 folios, each illuminated with decorative borders. In addition, it includes 148 three-quarter page miniatures painted in demi-grisaille. 

Vibrant blues, reds and greens and an abundance of gold make each page pop and sparkle. You’ll wonder at the imagination of the medieval mind as you look closer at the inhabitants of the borders: a symphony of birds, insects and animals, saints, supplicants and sinners and divine beings, monstrous hybrids and mythological creatures each interacting with or active within the foliate borders of recognisable flowers, scrolling acanthus and golden vine-leaves. The pages are as vibrant today as they were nearly 600 years ago. 

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

Books of Hours are a collection of prayers intended for private use. Many are richly illuminated. Although described as the medieval ‘best seller’ due to the sheer number of surviving examples, the quality of execution varies drastically. The patron dictated the number of miniatures and the level of decoration, while the style and palette were determined by the abilities of the workshop and availability of materials; no two books are identical. 

By the mid-fourteenth century Paris was a major centre of manuscript production, and this continued even during the English occupation of the city in 1420-36. After Paris was recaptured by the French, the same artists seem to have been employed by members of the French nobility, including Jean de Dunois and Prigent de Coëtivy. In the Coëvity Hours, as this chance to peak between its covers reveals, the workshop of the Dunois Master, to whom it has been attributed, produced one of the most beautifully and abundantly illuminated manuscripts of the mid-fifteenth century.  

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

The story of how the Coëtivy Hours came into the Library’s collection exemplifies the collecting partnership between Chester and Edith Beatty, highlighting their discriminatory taste and inimitable flair for recognising and acquiring the exceptional. Edith purchased the Coëtivy Hours in 1919 from another avid collector, Henry Yates Thompson, and presented it to her husband as an anniversary gift. Her inscription on the fly-leaf reads: ‘To A. Chester Beatty, from his loving wife, Edith’. 

At Beatty’s request, all but four of the miniatures were removed from the manuscript. For Beatty this had one clear purpose: ‘why shouldn’t people who are interested … look at them as closely as they want and study them properly?’ This exhibition will allow you to do just that, showcasing both the bound manuscript and all 144 mounted miniatures.

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

The Coëtivy Book of Hours, Bedford Master and Coëtivy Master, c. 1443, Paris, France. © 2018 Chester Beatty Library

Koryo Celadon Double-Gourd Vase, Koryo Dynasty, 11th-12th c. A.D., Korea. Height: 34.9cm © Zetterquist Galleries.

A large stoneware vase of double-gourd form, standing on a short rounded foot-rim. The body is decorated with shallowly incised floral decoration typical of the decorative style in the 11th – 12th centuries. The entire vase is covered in a blue-green crackled celadon glaze which fired to a brownish color in patches on the back. There is extensive body cracking on one side, repaired with Japanese gold lacquer.

A piece of similar form from the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka is published in their 1992 catalog “An Introduction to Koryo Celadons”, Pls. 57 and 59.

From a private Japanese collection.

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries

Large Nabeshima-Type Cylindrical Vase, Late Edo Period, Japan. Height: 47.6cm© Zetterquist Galleries.

A tall porcelain vase of cylindrical form with carved horizontal ribs overall. The entire piece is covered with a sweet blue-green celadon glaze. In an old fitted and inscribed Japanese wooden box.

The ribbed decoration of this piece appears on ceramic censers in the the neo-archaistic designs of Longquan celadons in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D., China). It is likely that these celadons, imported into Japan in the 13th-14th centuries, influenced the Edo artists who produced our present example. There are Hizen ware examples of truncated cylindrical censers with similarly ribbed decoration. (See “Ko-Imari: A Catalog of Hizen Porcelain from the Nezu Museum’s Yamamoto Collection”, Tokyo 2017, pl. 349.) 

The present example’s modern-looking elongated cylindrical form, juxtaposed against its reinterpreted archaistic decoration tells a rich oldmeets-new, Pan-Asian story.

 Phan Celadon Plate with Incised Corona Pattern, 14th-15th century, Thailand. Diameter: 26cm© Zetterquist Galleries.

A large, finely potted stoneware bowl with incised concentric lines around its slightly flared mouth-rim. The interior is decorated with a corona depiction against a tightly carved field of radiating lines, all constrained within another incised circle. The entire piece is covered in an ideally realized, finely crackled translucent green glaze. There is a small rim chip repaired with Japanese gold lacquer.

Published in “Exhibition of South-East Asian Ceramics” Gotoh Museum, 1986. pg. 58.

From a private Japanese collection.

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries

 Si Satchanalai Bowl with Carved Lotus Petals, 14th-15th century, Thailand. Diameter: 23.2cm© Zetterquist Galleries.

A large, deep stoneware bowl with flared mouth-rim and sitting on a straight, thickly potted foot. The interior cavetto is carved with large lotus petals having combed detailing. The inside center is carved with a top-down view of a lotus flower. The entire piece is covered with a finely crackled blue-green glaze, which ends just above the foot, revealing a pale stoneware body fired to a buff color. The under-foot has evidence of a cylindrical kiln support.

This piece was repurposed for the Japanese tea ceremony as a “Mizusashi” water jar, and has a custom fitted lacquered wood lid for that purpose. Published in the Gotoh Museum’s 1986 catalog “Exhibition of South-East Asian Ceramics”, pl. 103.

From a private Japanese Collection

Zetterquist Galleries, 3 East 66th Street, Suite 1B, New York 10065. T (212) 751 0650 - inquiries@zetterquist.com - zetterquist.com - Instagram: @zetterquistgalleries

 WILMINGTON, DEL.- "Summer is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating," wrote British critic and artist John Ruskin. Nearly one hundred years later, Brandywine Valley artist Andrew Wyeth advised artists to simply, "hold a mirror up to nature. Don't overdo it, don't underdo it." Even though Ruskin came of age during the Industrial Revolution, and Wyeth after the World Wars, the two artists shared a life-long obsession with the close observation of nature. The exhibition Eye on Nature: Andrew Wyeth and John Ruskin, on view March 10 - May 27, 2018, explores how both artists portrayed nature and the environment during tumultuous eras in human history. 

Eye on Nature, organized by Margaretta S. Frederick, the Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Collection at the Delaware Art Museum, presents approximately 30 rare watercolors by John Ruskin between 1838 and 1883, the largest number of Ruskin drawings seen in the United States for 25 years. The exhibition also includes 28 watercolors and dry brush by Andrew Wyeth between 1940 and 2008. Eye on Nature will be accompanied by a full range of public programs, including tours, lectures, and family and school programs. 

Frozen Seaweed, not dated. John Ruskin (1819-1900). Pencil, ink, ink wash, watercolor and gouache, 8 7/16 x 5 3/4 inches. Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, Lancaster University) (RF 918).

This major exhibition sheds new light on both artists' longstanding legacies. Both worked through periods of great upheaval and doubt: Ruskin during the Industrial Revolution and Wyeth during the Great Depression, World War II, and Cold War. Despite living during times of turmoil, both Ruskin and Wyeth devoted their lives to the pursuit of capturing the world around them, including studies of rocks, plants, and trees. Ruskin was after what he referred to as the "pure transcript" of nature whereas Wyeth looked to elevate his interpretation of nature through imagination. 

"If we look at the history of art we can't help but notice the recurrence of certain themes, interests, styles that link the work of the artists of one period or nationality with another," explains Frederick. "Sometimes these links are not terribly clear. By taking two artists who worked at such vastly different times and places and looking at their work together, viewers will walk away with a deeper understanding how each artist turned to nature as subject matter to better understand our world." 

Bluebell Leaves (Campanula), c.1861-63. John Ruskin (1819 – 1900). Pencil, brown ink, watercolor and gouache on blue paper, 7 3/4 x 6 1/8 inches. Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, Lancaster University) (RF 1186).

Artwork by John Ruskin is on loan from the Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, Lancaster University). Works by Andrew Wyeth are from the Museum's permanent collection as well as from private collections. This is the largest loan ever from the Ruskin Library collection to the U.S., and the largest number of Ruskin drawings seen in the U.S. for 25 years. Several of the Wyeth drawings have never been exhibited before. 

According to Frederick, both artists sought in nature some universal truth. For Ruskin, the act of drawing brought him closer to understanding a thing, while the drawing itself was of little importance. Most of his drawings are unfinished, for once he had captured the essence of an thing or place he had no desire to carry on with unnecessary compositional repetitions and refinements. For Wyeth, the untimely death of his father introduced elements of loneliness and psychological tension to his realist rural imagery. "It's a moment that I'm after," he once said. "I must put my foot in a bit of truth; and then I can fly free." 

"Both artists were inspired by and curious about, even obsessed with, understanding the world around them. Understanding was achieved through capturing it on paper," says Frederick. "For Wyeth, the drawing of these things represented a process of discovery. And similarly, Ruskin believes that to draw it, was to know it." 

March 10, 2018 - May 27, 2018

Trees in a Lane, perhaps at Ambleside, 1847. John Ruskin (1819 – 1900). Pencil, black and brown ink, and ink wash, 17 5/8 x 22 5/8 inches. Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, Lancaster University) (RF 1559).

Ravine at Maglans, c. 1849. John Ruskin (1819 – 1900). Pencil, black and brown ink and gouache, 11 x 8 3/8 inches. Ruskin Foundation (Ruskin Library, Lancaster University) (RF 946).

Sycamore Tree, Study for Pennsylvania Landscape, 1941 Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009). Ink and watercolor, 29 3/4 x 39 3/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Phelps, 1964. © 2018 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Blackberry Branch, Study for Blackberry Pickers, 1943. Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009). Drybrush. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection. © 2018 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Buttonwood Leaf, 1981. Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009). Drybrush. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection. © 2018 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Sticks, 1980. Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009). Watercolor. The Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. Collection. © 2018 Andrew Wyeth/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

An early Yaozhou celadon bowl. China, Five Dynasties period or early Northern Song dynasty, 10th century. Glazed ceramic. © Priestley & Ferraro

A Yueyao mandarin duck-pattern box and cover, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 11th-12th century. Diameter: 13.2cm, 5 ¼ in.© Priestley & Ferraro

A Jianyao “hare’s-fur” teabowl. Early Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), 12th-13th century. Diameter: 11.2 cm, 4 3/8 inches. © Priestley & Ferraro

A very rare Korean inlaid-decorated celadon flat-sided maebyong. Goryeo dynasty, 13th-14th century. Height: 27.1 cm, 10 ⅝ inches. © Priestley & Ferraro

Priestley & Ferraro. Exhibiting at 3 East 66th Street, Apartment 8B, New York 10065. M +44 780 250 2937 - info@priestleyandferraro.com - priestleyandferraro.com

A Large Bronze Tripod Censer, Song-Yuan Dynasty, 12-14th century, the wood stand and cover 18th century. Dimensions: the censer 30 cm. diam.; 41.5 cm. high © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Metallurgical test confirms the dating of this piece.

Provenance: A private Asian Collection

A silver and turquoise-inlaid ‘double bird’ vessel, Song dynasty. Height 23.5cm. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private English collection
– A private French collection, acquired in the 1970s

An archaistic bronze vase with dragon handles’, Song dynasty. Height 27cm. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private European Collector

An archaistic bronze arrow handled ‘Hu’ vase, Song-Yuan dynasty. Height 30cm. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private European Collector

A silver-inlaid tripod censer with wood cover and stand, China, Ming Dynasty. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: A private Irish collection.

A silver and gold inlaid bronze archaistic vase, ‘Hu’, 18th century. Height 181/4 inches. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private European collection
– Christie’s London, 6 November 2007 (lot 111)

A gilt copper alloy seated figure of Avalokitesvara-Guanyin holding the ‘Pearl of Light’, Ming Dynasty, Zhengtong period, 2nd quarter 15th century. Height 8.5". © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A Private Asian Collection
– Ex Galerie La Vielle Fontaine, Lausanne (Switzerland)
– Previously from the private collection of Albert and Madeleine Oesch-Gonin, Lausanne (Switzerland), acquired between 1976 and 1980 

A silver and turquoise inlaid gilt bronze figure of ‘Yama’, 14th century. Height 5” without stand. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private American Collector
– Acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s

A gilt bronze seated figure of ‘Sakyamuni’, 15th-16th century. Height 5” © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private American Collector
– Acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s.

A group of five gilt bronze Buddhist plaques, 17th century. Height 3” without stand. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private American Collector
– Acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s

A gilt bronze figure of Mahakala, 17th century. Height 43/4” without stand. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private American Collector
– Acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s.

A gilt bronze Guardian figure, 17th century. Height 4” without stand. © Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art

Provenance: – A private American Collector
– Acquired from an important Hong Kong gallery in the 1990s

Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art. Exhibiting at Daniel Crouch Rare Books, 24 East 64th Street, 2nd Floor, New York 10065. T (212) 602 1779 - M +44 771 782 5828 - mark@littletonandhennessy.com - littletonandhennessy.com - Facebook: @littletonandhennessy - Instagram: @littletonhennessyasianart - Twitter: @LHAsianArt - WeChat: LittletonandHennessy

Lot 13. Trois bols en grès blanchâtre à couverte céladon, dynastie des Lê, 15°-16° siècle. D. 16,5 et 17,5 cm. Estimation : 150 € / 300 €. Résultat 143 €. Photo Cornette de Saint-Cyr 2018

Arts d'Asie - Art Tribal - Documentation chez Cornette de Saint Cyr Paris, 75008 Paris, le 06 Mars 2018 à 14h30. Expert : Cabinet Daffos-Estournel. Tel. : +33 6 09 22 55 13. Consultant pour le Vietnam : Monsieur Philippe Truong. Tel. : +33 6 31 34 40 59

Lot 666. A 'Ding' foliate-rim dish, 10th century. Width 4 7/8  in., 12.4 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

thinly potted, with shallow conical sides rising from a slightly splayed foot to a foliate rim divided into five petals lobes, covered overall with an ivory white glaze .

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM

Lot 667. A carved 'Yaozhou' dish, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Diameter 7 1/4  in., 18.5 cm. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

of conical form, with shallow flaring sides rising from a straight foot ring, the interior incised with three scrolling flower heads issuing from stylized leaves, the interior and exterior with a single line border below the rim, covered overall in an olive-green glaze, pooling in the recesses, Japanese wood box (3).

Provenance: Kochukyo & Co., Tokyo, 1990s. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM

Lot 668. A 'Ding'-type 'Lotus' bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). Diameter 5 7/8  in., 14.9 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

thinly potted, the deep, slightly rounded sides rising from a tall spreading foot, the outer walls molded and carved with three rows of lotus petals creating a surface of ribbed undulating peaks, covered overall in an even, ivory-colored glaze save for a section at the recessed base.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 march 2018, 10:00 AM