NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s will offer 300+ Chinese works of art originally gifted by philanthropists and renowned Asian art collectors Florence and Herbert Irving to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, as a highlight of their Asia Week sale series in September 2019. 

In March 2015, The Met announced the gift of 1,275 Asian works of art from Florence and Herbert Irving – a donation that fundamentally transformed the holdings of the museum’s Department of Asian Art, on the occasion of its centennial. At the time of their gift, the Irvings realized that a full assessment of their collection would take time, and that there would undoubtedly be many pieces that would unnecessarily duplicate works already in the collection. For that reason, they agreed that The Met could sell any of the works in their gift so long as the proceeds would go towards future acquisitions. The present sale is a fulfillment of that visionary goal. 

The full proceeds of Sotheby’s sales will go into an Irving acquisition fund, to be used by The Met’s Department of Asian Art to continue the Irving legacy by seeking out artworks to further enhance the comprehensive nature of the institution’s holdings of Asian art. 

Sotheby’s will present over 120+ archaic to Qing dynasty jades along with porcelain, sculptures and objects for the scholar’s studio in a dedicated sale on 10 September, titled Chinese Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Florence and Herbert Irving Gift. The auction is led by a finely carved spinach-green jade brushpot, formerly in the collection of Alfred Morrison and kept at Fonthill, his famed English country house (estimate $500/700,000). Additional objects from the Irving Gift will be offered in the Saturday at Sotheby’s: Asian Art auction on 14 September. 

Public exhibitions for all of Sotheby’s Asia Week auctions will open on 6 September in our New York galleries. 

Angela McAteer, Head of Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art Department in New York, commented: “It is a privilege to work with The Met this autumn to help bring these exceptional works to collectors worldwide. Our sales are representative of the Irvings’ exceptional taste in Chinese art, which features a strong emphasis on organic materials and works hewn from nature, as well as extraordinary Chinese jades produced during the reign of the Qianlong emperor.” 

Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, said: "Florence and Herbert Irving were visionary and passionate collectors whose devotion and generosity have dramatically transformed the Museum’s holdings. We are deeply grateful that their gifts will enable us to continue to enhance The Met’s collection.”

FLORENCE & HERBERT IRVING 
Herbert and Florence Irving’s passion for Asian art began in the Asian galleries of the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. Initially their interest was focused on lacquer, and their first piece happened to be a Qianlong-period brush pot. Soon their wide-ranging art collection encompassed art not only from China, but also from Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia. As serious, scholarly collectors, they developed a close relationship with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where they held an important exhibition of their lacquer collection. The Met became in the end the home for many of their masterpieces. 

The Irvings’ extensive relationship with The Met includes: Florence’s election as a museum Trustee in 1990, and election as a Trustee Emerita in 1996; the 1991 opening of the spectacular exhibition East Asian Lacquer from the Collection of Florence and Herbert Irving; the 1994 opening of the Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for South and Southeast Asian Art, which gave The Met the most extensive display space for these arts anywhere outside Asia; the 1997 opening of the Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for Chinese Decorative Arts, which added 3,000 square feet to the Asian Wing; their 2011 endowment of the position of Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia, which is currently held by John Guy; and their 2015 gift. 

The Irvings’ 2015 gift of almost 1,300 works of art encompasses all of the major cultures of East and South Asia and virtually every medium explored by Asian craftsmen over five millennia. Areas of particular strength are Chinese, Japanese, and Korean lacquers, South Asian sculpture, Chinese jades and hardstones, scholars’ objects of ivory, rhinoceros horn, bamboo, wood, and metalwork, Japanese ceramics, and Chinese and Japanese painting. Taken together, this transformative gift fills gaps and extends the Met’s existing strengths in ways that will further elevate the Museum’s stature as one of the world’s premier collections of Asian art. 

CHINESE ART FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: THE FLORENCE AND HERBERT IRVING GIFT 
Auction 10 September 

Lot 15. A Finely Carved Large Spinach-Green Jade ‘Immortals’ Brushpot, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period (1736-1795). Height 6 5/8  in., 16.9 cm. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the cylindrical body set over five ruyi-form feet, the sides deftly carved in high relief with nine immortals in a mountain retreat surrounded by rocky peaks, waterfalls, pines, and other vegetation, one side with six of the men gathered on a balustraded terrace, each with a long beard, voluminous robe, and a sprig of lingzhi, the terrace with a double-roof pavilion at one side and branching into two balustraded paths at the opposite side, one path zigzagging up the mountain to distant pavilion, the other winding behind a diagonal ridge of rockwork then crossing over a cascading waterfall and turning uphill to a temple with a large tripod censer at the entryway, three immortals gathered in front of the temple, two of them holding lingzhi and the third holding a scroll, a craggy ridge rising at a diagonal alongside the temple, on the opposite side of the ridge two deer resting amidst lingzhi beneath a willow and a wutong tree, the flat base centered with a slightly recessed circle, the stone a deep spinach-green color variegated with lighter green passages.

Provenance: Collection of Alfred Morrison (1821-97), Fonthill House, Tisbury, Wiltshire, no. 233.
Christie's London, 9th July 1980, lot 105.
Donald J. Wineman, New York, 24th August 1981, no. 85.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 352.

Note: This magnificent vessel belongs to a highly refined group of ‘figure-in-landscape’ brushpots, created at the height of the jade production in the Qianlong period (1736-1795). Portraying mythological and historical events, these brushpots are exquisitely carved in green or white jade. The green jade models, particularly the striking spinach-toned examples, appear to have been especially favored by the Qing court.

The present brushpot is an extremely luxurious item for the  scholar’s desk and would have made a most desirable birthday gift in view of its popular theme of immortals surrounded by many auspicious elements such as deer and lingzhi. To create such an extravagant work of art, a high-quality boulder of substantial proportions would be essential. Such a boulder would not have been easily available before the Qianlong Emperor’s 1759 conquest of the Western Territories (xiyu), which gave him access to jade-rich Khotan. The number of surviving jade pieces of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) from the period before 1759 is, in fact, conspicuously small compared to the immense quantity of jade artefacts produced thereafter.

Khotan (Hetian in Chinese), in modern Xinjiang province, was one of the most important trading oases along the Silk Road. Its geological setting was extremely favorable for the formation of high-quality nephrite. Renowned for its translucency and extreme toughness, Khotan jade was highly prized by the Qianlong Emperor who on several occasions expressed his admiration for this treasured stone in his poems inscribed on spinach-green jade items.

Tribute jade from Khotan was sent yearly to the imperial court, yet the Qianlong Emperor appeared to have asked occasionally for more than the stipulated quota. The best quality was kept for use at the Ruyi Guan (The Imperial Department of Production) while the rest was distributed among the various other production centers supervised by the imperial court, mostly situated in the Jiangnan area south of the lower reaches of the Yangzi river.

Although Khotan’s rich quarries were under strict imperial control and unauthorized mining was severely punished, as was repeatedly mentioned in the official records of the Qing dynasty, clandestine jade invariably found its way into the many local private workshops. Indeed, some jade masterpieces appear to have been manufactured in these workshops. Privately financed by the wealthy salt administrators in the Jiangnan area, these costly artworks would have been offered as tribute to the court, see Yulian Wu, Luxurious Networks: Salt Merchants, Status, and Statecraft in Eighteenth Century China, Stanford, 2017.

As trade flourished, court commissions became increasingly demanding, pushing the craftsmen’s technical and creative capacities to new heights, whereby they reached virtuoso skill in complex composition, as displayed on the current brushpot.

The splendid pictorial scene displayed on this vessel was probably sourced from a painting or book illustration. It was yet the craftsman’s challenge to transfer the picture onto the hard jade’s façade. To achieve this, the artisan ingeniously treated the carving like a continuous handscroll painting, distributing the various stages of the story over the vessel’s cylindrical surface.

Wielding the carver’s tool almost like a paintbrush, the artist has created depth and perspective through bold multi-layered relief sculpting, subtle outlines and shadow play by shallow etching. Threes and foliage are rendered naturalistically in openwork, forging illusory effects that draw the beholder into the scene.

The pictorial quality of this outstanding group of spinach-green jade brushpots is exemplified by a related vessel in the Sir Joseph Hotung Collection carved with various scenes from the Gengzhi tu [Pictures of tilling and weaving], and published in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, The British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 29:18.

The Palace Museum in Beijing and the National Palace Museum in Taipei both possess spinach-green jade brushpots displaying related ‘figure-in-landscape’ scenes. The Palace Museum in Beijing has three pieces illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan zang wenwu zhenpin quanji. Yuqi/The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, pls 168-170, depicting ‘A Literati Meeting in Xi Yuan’, ‘Six Hermits in Zhuxi’ (fig. 1) and ‘Seven Hermits in the Bamboo Grove’ respectively; and a fourth without feet, in Zhongguo yuqi quanji [Complete Collection of Chinese Jades], vol. 6: Qing, Shijiazhuang, 1991, pl. 278, illustrating a related scene.

A spinach-green jade ‘Six Hermits in Zuxi’ brushpot© The Collection of The Palace Museum, Beijing.

The National Palace Museum in Taipei has a brushpot without feet, included in the exhibition catalogue Huaxia yishu zhong de ziran jian/Viewing Nature in Chinese Art. A Special Exhibition of Select Artifacts from the Museum Collection to Celebrate the 2016 Tang Prize, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2016, no. 28, carved with figures picking lotus blossoms. This vessel is also illustrated in Gongting zhi ya. Qingdai fanggu ji huayi yuqi tezhan tulu/The Refined Taste of the Emperor: Special Exhibition of Archaic and Pictorial Jades of the Ch’ing Court, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1997, cat. no. 58, together with two related examples without feet, no. 55 of smaller size, and no. 56 of somewhat larger size.

A spinach-green jade brushpot with a related figure scene, from the collections of E. L. Paget, Sir J. Buchanan-Jardine, Sir Bernard Eckstein and Sir Jonathan Woolf was included in the exhibition The Woolf Collection of Chinese Jade, Sotheby’s, London, 2013, cat. no. 45; and an example formerly in The Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, Minnesota, is illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 13.

Compare also a spinach-green ‘Five Old Men of Suiyang’ brush pot, from the collection of A. Knight, sold at Christie’s London, 21st March 1966, lot 152, and again in our Paris rooms, 22nd June 2017, lot 9; and a ‘Wulao tu’ brush pot from the collection of Robert Napier, First Baron Napier of Magdala (1810-1890), sold in our London rooms, 7th November 2018, lot 19.

The present brush pot was formerly in one of the most important collections of Chinese art ever formed. 

Alfred Morrison was an eclectic collector of European art, autographs and manuscripts. In the late 1850s, Morrison started to collect Chinese art and purchased many pieces from Lord Loch of Drylaw (1827-1900) and from the dealer Henry Durlacher (act. ca. 1843). Morrison’s country house at Fonthill near Tisbury in Wiltshire, was known to contain thousands of works of art. The present brushpot was among the artworks that were cleared from Fonthill House by order of Alfred Morrison’s grandson, John Morrison (1906-1996), First Baron Margadale of Isley, who sold the brushpot at Christie’s London, 9th July 1980.

Lot 7. A Rare Celadon and Russet Jade ‘Quail and Millet’ Boulder, Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng-Qianlong Period (1723-1796). Length 6 1/8  in., 15.5 cm. Estimate 150,000 — 250,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the large ovoid stone deftly carved in high relief on one side with quails in a rocky enclave, three of the birds standing on a flat rock in the lower right corner of the composition pecking at leafing stalks of millet, rockwork rising at a diagonal overhead and serving as a perch for a fourth quail also eating millet, a gnarled tree growing nearby and a waterfall cascading in the deeply carved background, the opposite side carved with a river flowing between karsts, leafing and flowering branches peeking out from the sides of the hills, clouds swirling above, the stone a very pale seafoam green with orange-russet skin reserved for the coloration of the principal decorative features, wood stand (2).

Provenance: Christie’s London, 8th April 1978, lot 148. 
Collection of Floyd and Josephine Segel.
Spink & Son, London, 8th April 1986. 
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 454.

Lot 570. A fine and very rare gold dish, Song dynasty (960-1279); 5 ¼ in. (13.5 cm.) diam.; weight 103 g. Estimate USD 300,000 - USD 500,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The circular dish is chased in the center with a dense, elegant design of two leafy, S-shaped stems, each bearing a large blossom, and the flat, everted rim is chased with a band of 'cash' pattern below the rolled edge.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. 52.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 106.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 52.
R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, London, 1963, pl. 15.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 49.

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 52.

Note: Gold and silver vessels were most likely made for use at the Imperial court during the Song dynasty, and extant examples are rare, especially gold examples. A gold dish similarly chased in the center with two leafy stems, each bearing a lotus-like flower below a band of 'cash' diaper pattern on the flat rim, in the collection of the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott, is illustrated by Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971-1972, p. 64, no. 90. Also illustrated, p. 65, no. 92, is a silver dish chased with a large flowering peony stem that fills the interior below a band of 'cash' diaper on the rim, which is also from the collection of the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott. Both of these dishes are illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber: Die Sammlung Pierre Uldry, Zurich, 1994, the gold dish, p. 230, pl. 272, the silver dish, pl. 273. 

Gold and silver dishes of this type appear to have served as inspiration for dishes made at the Ding kilns during the 11th and 12th centuries. (Fig. 1) Such dishes would have been used as service sets in a sumptuous banquet context, probably at the imperial court. Ding dishes decorated in the interior with fluently carved floral motifs are represented by the dishes illustrated by Tsai Meifen, Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou: White Ding Wares from the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, p. 69, no. II-24 and pp. 72-73, no. II 27.28; and another example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 76, pl. 67. See, also, the Ding dish carved in the interior with two large peony blossoms borne on leafy, undulating stems below a band of classic scroll on the rim, sold at Christie's New York, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics - The Linyushanren Collection, Part III, 22 March 2018, lot 504. Unlike the decoration on the interior of the Ding dishes, the decoration on the present gold dish forms a dense, medallion-like design that forms the center of the otherwise plain interior

Lot 585. A pair of silvery metal petal-lobed dishes, Song dynasty (960-1279). Each 4 3/8 in, (11.1 cm.) diam.; weight 89.2 and 102 g. Estimate USD 12,000 - USD 18,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The slightly flared sides of each dish are finely shaped as six petals rising from the flat base.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK170.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 109.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 170.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection. The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 163.

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 170.

Lot 592. An unusual parcel-gilt silver ear spoon, Song dynasty (960-1279); 8 3/8 in. (21.3 cm.) long; weight 12.3 g. Estimate USD 2,000 - USD 4,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The long, slender handle is gracefully arched and decorated in relief on one side with prunus branches on a ring-punched ground, and terminates in a small double-gourd vase from which issues the slender, scoop-like bowl. The plain reverse of the double gourd is cast with the characters tian cheng zu wen, probably a maker's mark.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 97.

Literature: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 134.

Lot 594. A large reticulated silver comb, Song dynasty (960-1279); 5 1/8 in. (13 cm.) wide; weight 71.8 g. Estimate USD 2,000 - USD 3,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The top of the comb is decorated in openwork with a repoussé design of two boys amidst elaborate leafy flower scroll, with traces of gilding.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK143.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 93.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 143.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 143.

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 143.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 66, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

Lot 70. A floriform celadon jade dish, Song-Yuan dynasty (960-1368). Diameter 8 1/8  in., 20.5 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the shallow sides shaped into six lobes rising at a slight angle and then expanding to a flat everted rim with six bracket-form 'petals', the surface unadorned aside from six notches cut into the reverse of the cavetto to define the lobes, the stone a sage-green color dappled with icy inclusions and with a russet vein at one side.

Provenance: Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 105.

Note: Jade barbed-rim wares in this style are very rare. Examples of similar barbed-rim dishes in metal include a silver dish that was excavated in an 8th century tomb in Inner Mongolia, and another silver dish that was discovered in a Yuan dynasty tomb near Shanghai, see James C.S. Lin, Chinese Jades from the Neolithic period to the Twentieth Century, London, 2009, pp. 66-67. A strikingly similar mottled gray jade barbed-rim bowl of this type in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge has been published in J. P. Palmer, Jade, London, 1967, pl. 19, and in op. cit., cat. no. 57.

Lot 549. A small Jizhou painted jar, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 10th-14th century; 3 in. (7.6 cm.) high. Estimate USD 2,000 - USD 3,000. Price realised USD 1,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The tapering rounded sides painted in brown on a white slip under a clear glaze with two foliate sprays separated by insects, within brown line borders, that on the shoulder applied in white slip with dots, with further lines encircling the neck below the everted rim, the interior covered in a brown glaze which continues onto the rim.

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 22 October 1971.
Collection of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., New York. 

Lot 551. A rare painted Jizhou ovoid vase, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century; 7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) high. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 34,600. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

Loosely painted in brown with a bird perched on a flowering branch on one side, the reverse with a large banana tree emerging from behind a jagged rock, with butterflies between, with incised details, all under a clear glaze.

Provenance: Acquired 1920-1948. 

Note: A similarly decorated brown-painted jizhou vase of high-shouldered form, also dated to the Southern Song or Yuan dynasties, is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. I, London, 1994, no. 519. See, also, the example of similar size and decoration illustrated in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 387, no. 175.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008.

Lot 530. A rare white-glazed stoneware bottle vase, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 9¾ in. (24.7 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. Price realised USD 37,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008. 

The elegant, pear-shaped body tapering to a tall, slender neck rising to a flared mouth, covered overall with a transparent glaze of ivory tone showing the finger grooves of the potting and falling just short of the knife-cut foot rim to reveal the fine white ware.

Exhibited: Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Born of Earth and Fire, Chinese Ceramics from the Scheinman Collection, 9 September - 8 November, 1992, no. 57. 

Note: The extraordinarily elegant form of this long-necked, pear-shaped, vase suggests close association with some of the ceramics admired by the Song dynasty court, both at Kaifeng and at Lin'an (Hangzhou). The profile of the vase is very similar to that of a Northern Song white Ding ware vase, with a carved lotus scroll around the body, which is preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei and illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, no. 22. It is perhaps not surprising to find that the current vase and the National Palace Museum Ding ware vessel are also of similar height. The Guan ware kilns working for the Southern Song court near modern-day Hangzhou also produced vases of this form, as can be seen from the famous long-necked, pear-shaped, Guan ware vase in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by R. Scott in Imperial Taste - Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, San Francisco, 1989, p. 41, no. 17. While the Guan ware vase is slightly smaller than the current white ware vessel, and appears to have a slightly thicker neck (probably due to the multiple layers of glaze), the overall shape is very similar.

The slenderness of the current vase's neck would have been very difficult to throw and to fire successfully, and when such a form was attempted at the Yaozhou kilns the neck was made somewhat wider and the mouth less flared, as in the case of the Yaozhou pear-shaped vase with carved peony scroll in the Kyusei Hakone Art Museum illustrated by G. Hasebe, ed., Sekai toji zenshu - Song, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, no. 49. The potter of a very rare 12th century pear-shaped Jun ware vase with purple splashes in the Percival David Foundation has rendered the lower part of the neck very slender, but, as it rises, the neck flares and the mouth rim is not everted. This vase is illustrated by R. Scott, op. cit., p. 38, no. 14. The majority of Jun wares, and indeed other Northern and Southern Song dynasty pear-shaped vases, have significantly wider necks, which would have made them easier to throw and less likely to sustain damage during firing.

A small number of finely potted white vases similar to the current example are known in published collections. One such vase, which shares a similar shape and size with the current vessel, was given to the Metropolitan Museum, New York in 1991 by Stanely Herzman in memory of his wife Adele. See S. Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1992, p. 36, no. 25. A vase of similar shape, but of slightly smaller size and with a proportionally shorter neck, in the collection of the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo/London/San Francisco, 1981, no. 55. A somewhat taller white vase in the Idemitsu Collection has a similar pear-shaped body to the current example, but the neck is only narrow at its lowest point, flaring thereafter to a flattened, rather than a curving, everted mouth. See Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 84. Some variation in proportion can also be seen in two other vases. One was formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat, and is illustrated by William Watson in Tang and Liao Ceramics, London, 1984, p. 96, no. 63. The other in the Kyusei Hakone Art Museum is illustrated in Mayuyama Seventy Years, vol.I, Tokyo, 1976, no. 637. A similar vase was also sold in these rooms, on 10 December 1987, lot 213.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008.

Lot 545. A russet-decorated ovoid vase, meiping, Jin-Yuan dynasty, 12th-13th century; 10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm.) high. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 20,000. Price realised USD 18,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008. 

The tapering ovoid body covered with a lustrous black glaze and painted in reddish-brown with two phoenixes amongst flower sprays, all below the short, double-ringed neck, box.

Provenance: The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York. 

Note: Vessels of this type, with these distinctive small, double-ringed lips, are known as xiakou ping (small-mouthed bottles) and were probably sealed with a fabric-wrapped wooden dowel and used for storing wine and other liquids. Typically dark-glazed, such bottles are often painted in russet or rust-brown slip with abstract floral decoration or designs suggestive of birds in flight, such as that seen on the present example, characteristically rendered with vigorous calligraphic strokes. The present example, however, is distinguished by its elegant, elongated tapering ovoid body rather than the more characteristic squat, globular body. A bottle of this latter type, from the collection of Robert M. Ferris IV, with similarly painted birds in flight rendered in russet against a black glaze, is illustrated by R. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge, 1996, p. 162, no. 53. Another black-glazed example painted with birds in russet is published by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, p. 255, no. 465.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008.

Lot 583. A silver flanged cup, Jin-Yuan dynasty, 12th-13th century; 4 in. (10.2 cm.) wide; weight 50 g. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 25,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The shallow cup is decorated on the interior with a single lotus flower, and has a flat, flange-like handle decorated in repoussé stippling with foliate scroll projecting from the rim on one side.

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK136.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 107.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 136.
Michael Vickers, Oliver Impey and James Allan, From Silver to Ceramic, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1986, pl. 35. 
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 138. 

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 136.

Note: Silver and gold vessels, often made for use at the imperial court, were often the inspiration for ceramic interpretations, such as the white stoneware cup from the Ingram Collection illustrated by Michael Vickers et al., From Silver to Ceramic, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1986, pl. 35, where it is illustrated with the present silver cup. A gold cup of similar shape, dated Song dynasty, also chased in the center of the interior with a flower stem, and with foliate scroll on the flange handle, in the collection of the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott, is illustrated by Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971-1972, p. 68, no. 98. See, also, the white stoneware cup of similar shape dated to the Jin dynasty, 12th-13th century, in the Kai-yin Lo Collection, illustrated in Bright as Silver - White as Snow, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 18, where it is suggested that flanged cups of this type would have served as brush washers.

Christie's. Masterpieces of Early Chinese Gold and Silver, New York, 12 September 2019

Lot 571. A very rare gold 'dragon'-handled cup, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 4 3/8 in. (11.2 cm.) wide; weight 72.1 g. Estimate USD 600,000 - USD 800,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The cup has a shallow bowl with rounded sides raised on a gently flared ring foot. The handle is exquisitely executed in repoussé from two gold sheets as a dragon head suspending a loose ring from its clenched jaws. The cup is chased with a narrow band of foliate scroll below the mouth rim, and the bottom of the interior is chased with three peony blossoms borne on leafy, scrolling stems on a stippled ground within a 'bead' border. 

Provenance: Madame L. Wannieck Collection, Paris, before 1937.
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK53A.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 104.

Literature: Osvald Sirén, Kinas Konst under Tre Artusenden, vol. II, Stockholm, 1943, pl. 364.
P. W. Meister, 'Edelmetallarbeiten der Mongolen-Zeit', Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, No. 14, Berlin, 1938, pl. 7.
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 53A.
R. Soame Jenyns and William Watson, Chinese Art. The Minor Arts, Fribourg, 1963, pl. 14.
Zhang Linsheng, 'Zhongguo gudai di jingjin gongyi', The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, No. 14, Berlin, 1984, p. 59, fig. 32.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 50.
Chinese Ceramic Treasures, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 50.

Exhibited: Cologne, Kölnische Kunstverein, Asiatische Kunst, 1926, cat. no. 44.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Arts de la Chine Ancienne, 1937, cat. no. 168.
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 178.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 53A.
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), 1968, cat. nos. 34a, 34b.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 22, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

Note: A gold cup, dated Song dynasty, with deep, rounded sides raised on a low, spreading pedestal foot and similarly chased below the thickened rim with a foliate scroll band, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated by Dr. Paul Singer, Early Chinese Gold & Silver, China Institute in America, New York, 1971-1972, p. 69, no. 99. The cup retains one of a pair of repoussé, lion-form handles applied to the side. A gold cup (8.5 cm. diam.) with a band of lingzhi chased on the exterior below the rolled rim, and with a leafy peony stem chased in the bottom of the interior is illustrated by Jianshe Yu, ed., Essence of Chifeng Historical Relics Series, 2006, p. 177, pl. CJ120, where it is dated Jin dynasty. Unlike the present gold cup, it does not have a handle and rests on a flat base. Also illustrated, p. 182, pl. CJ126, is a silver cup (8 cm. diam.) raised on a foot, with a lingzhi-form handle on one side and a band of foliate scroll chased in stippling below the rim on the exterior, which is dated Yuan dynasty. A gold bowl (8.4 cm. diam.) dated Song-Yuan illustrated by Peter Y. K. Lam, ed., Celestial Creations: Art of the Chinese Goldsmith, The Cheng Xun Tang Collection, Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007, pp. 234, no. D35, has a band of classic scroll punched below the rolled rim. A related silver cup, also with a repoussé handle, in the collection of Pierre Uldry, is illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, p. 224, no. 261, where it is dated 13th-14th century, Xixia or Yuan dynasty. Unlike the medallion of flowering peony stems engraved in the center of the gold cup, the silver cup is engraved in the center with the lanca character, om, implying a Buddhist context for the cup. 

The loose gold ring suspended from the dragon-head handle may relate this cup to nomadic culture, as the ring would have allowed the cup to be hung from a belt. In general, gold utensils were held in high esteem at the Mongol court, as can be seen by several gold vessels from Inner Mongolia illustrated by James C. Y. Watt et al., The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, pp. 6-7, fig, 3, a gold stem cup, fig. 4, a lobed cup with ring handle below a shaped thumbpiece, and fig. 5, a lobed bowl and a lobed cup stand, the latter two dated Xixia dynasty (1018-1127). All of these have a narrow band of foliate scroll below the rim.

Lot 572. A rare and finely decorated gold 'peony' dish, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm.) diam.; weight 121.1 g. Estimate USD 200,000 - USD 300,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The dish is finely chased in the center with a medallion enclosing seven, small ring-punches that form a circle within a border of overlapping hatching, all encircled by a wide band of densely arranged peony stems bearing five large blossoms on a stippled ground within a border of stamen. The flat, everted rim is chased with a band of foliate scroll below the rolled edge.

Provenance: Madame L. Wannieck Collection, Paris, before 1937.
Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, no. CK53B.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 102.

Literature: P.W. Meister, 'Edelmetallarbeiten der Mongolen-Zeit', Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, No.14, Berlin, 1938, pl. 7.
Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 53B.
Zhang Linsheng, 'Zhongguo gudai di jingjin gongyi', The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, No. 14, Beijing, 1984, p. 59, fig. 32.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 51.
Chinese Ceramic Treasures, A Selection from Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, including The Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 51. 

Exhibited: Cologne, Kölnische Kunstverein, Asiatische Kunst, 1926, cat. no. 44.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Arts de la Chine Ancienne, 1937, cat. no. 168.
Copenhagen, Dansk Kunstindustrimuseum, Kinas Kunst i Svensk og Dansk eje, 1950, cat. no. 178.
Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 53B.
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), 1968, cat. nos. 34a, 34b.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 22, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums. 

Note: Dishes with a flat rim encircled by a low ridge on the outer edge appear in silver beginning in the Tang dynasty, which is when silver began to be used on a more regular basis for fine vessels. During the Song dynasty dishes of this type continued to be made in silver, and also more rarely in gold, most likely for use at the imperial court. A gold dish of similar shape and slightly smaller size (15.4 cm. diam.), chased in the center with lotus decoration and with 'cash' diaper pattern on the rim, formerly in the collection of Christian Holmes and the Hon. Senator Hugh Scott, Washington, D.C., and now in the collection of Pierre Uldry, is illustrated in Chinesisches Gold und Silber, Zurich, 1994, p. 230, no. 272, where it is dated Song, as is a smaller (14.2 cm. diam.) silver dish decorated with a large peony stem, illustrated p. 230, no. 273. Also illustrated, p. 166, pl. 154, is a Tang silver dish of similar shape and comparable size (15.8 cm. diam.) which has the same central decoration as seen on the present gold dish. This central decoration of small circles in a ring within a circular medallion may represent a lotus pod, a motif seen in the center of lacquer 'lotus' dishes of Yuan date, such as the examples illustrated by Sherman E. Lee and Wai-Kam Ho, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), The Cleveland Art Museum of Art, 1968, nos. 288-91. The inclusion of the central decoration on both the gold and silver dishes may imply that these dishes were made as cup stands. 

These valuable gold and silver dishes are thought to be the inspiration for dishes of the same shape made at the Ding kilns during the 11th-12th centuries. Ding dishes of this type, also decorated with floral motifs in the interior, include an example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 76, no. 67, and two examples illustrated by Tsai Meifen, Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou: White Ding Wares from the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, p. 69, no. II-24.

Lot 588. A group of four silver hairpins, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 5 5/8, 7 ¼, 8 1/8 and 8 ½ in. (14.3, 18.4, 20.7 and 21.6 cm.) long; total weight 125.2 g. Estimate USD 5,000 - USD 7,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

The group is comprised of three similarly shaped double-pronged hairpins encircled by graduated disks, and a hairpin with a twisted flower scroll terminal. 

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 111. 

Literature: Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pls. 149, 150, 151 and 157.

Lot 558. An unusual Longquan celadon bowl, Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century; 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm). Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 18,000. Price realised USD 21,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008. 

Thickly potted with rounded sides flaring from a high ring foot to an inverted rim, the center impressed with a blossoming, leafy branch within a single line border, covered overall with an even glaze of attractive sea-green tone, Japanese metal cover, Japanese wood box.

Note: The distinctive shape of this bowl, with small foot ring and wide, inturned mouth rim, is based on a Middle Eastern prototype common to both pottery and metal. For a Persian bronze bowl dating to the 12th-13th century, shown alongside a Longquan bowl of corresponding form, see M. Medley, Metalwork and Chinese Ceramics, London, 1972, p. 45, pl.15 a and b.

A Longquan bowl of very similar shape, but subtly carved with vertical petals on the exterior, is illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 163, no. 134. A number of Longquan bowls of this form, also carved with petals on the exterior, were excavated from the wreck of a merchant ship that foundered off the coast of Korea in AD 1323 on its way to Japan. See Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, nos. 107-9.

This bowl is particularly elegant, as the plain, uncarved sides show the sea-green color of the glaze off to best advantage. 

Lot 567. A Longquan celadon carved dish, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 14 in. (35.5 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 5,000 - USD 7,000. Price realised USD 8,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008. 

Heavily potted, the center relief-decorated with a writhing four-clawed dragon chasing a flaming pearl beneath a freely carved wave design in the cavetto and below the undecorated, everted rim, the exterior carved with a series of raised ribs circumscribing the body, covered overall with a glaze of deep green tone.

Provenance: Chait Galleries, New York. 

Note: A dish of this type with a very similar dragon chasing a flaming pearl is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. I, no. 60. See, also, the example from the H.B. Harris Collection, also with a dragon chasing a flaming pearl beneath a wave ground, although dated to the Song dynasty, illustrated by R.L. Hobson et al., Chinese Ceramics in Private Collections, London, 1931, p. 126, fig. 224. 

Lot 563. A very rare underglaze-red-decorated pear-shaped bottle vase, yuhuchunping, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 8½ in. (21.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. Price realised USD 73,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

Well potted and painted with two leafy tendrils, each bearing a lotus blossom and forming a continuous scroll around the mid-section of the pear-shaped body below a band of detached scroll-filled leaf tips, all within double-line borders, and in dark grayish-red reserved against a white glaze of pale blue tone continuing into the neck and also covering the interior of the slightly flared foot.

Note: Compare the vase of very similar form and decoration in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, rev. ed., 1989, no. 13 and again in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, 1976, Tokyo, vol. I, no. 726. Another vase in the Avery Brundage Collection, the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, also painted with lotus scroll below a band of scroll-filled panels was included in the exhibition, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Cleveland Museum of Art, 2 October - 24 November, 1968, no. 167.

Other yuhuchunping painted in a similar style in underglaze red and decorated with scrolling tendrils of different flowers, including peony on a vase in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, included in the exhibition, In Pursuit of the Dragon, Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics, Seattle Art Museum, 1988, no.7, and chrysanthemum on a vase in the British Museum, Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1981, vol. 5, no. 74.

Lot 562. A Longquan celadon pear-shaped vase, yuhuchunping, Yuan-Ming dynasty, 13th-15th century; 10 3/8 in. (26.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 32,200. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The pear-shaped body raised on a knife-pared foot rim and surmounted by a slender neck rising to a flared mouth, covered overall with a glaze of even pale olive-green tone, the unglazed foot ring burnt orange in the firing.

Note: Compare the smaller Longquan celadon vase of similar form excavated from a shipwreck off the Korean coast included in the special exhibition at the National Museum of Korea, and illustrated in the catalogue, cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, 1977, no. 42. The 'Sinan wreck,' as it is commonly referred to, was the wreck of a Chinese merchant ship that sank off the coast of Korea in 1323 while carrying a cargo of Chinese wares including a large group of Longquan celadons and other Chinese ceramics. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008.

Lot 32. A beige jade toogle, Song-Ming dynasty (960-1644). Length 3 in., 7.6 cm. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of long cylindrical form pierced through the center, carved all over in low relief with columns of paired C-scrolls, each pair of C-scrolls forming a square unit, the orientation of the units alternating between horizontal and vertical, the stone a cool beige with fine russet veining to one end, stand (2).

Provenance: Spink & Son, London, 24th October 1986.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 68.

Lot 69. An archaistic celadon and russet jade bell, Song-Ming dynasty (960-1644). Height 5 3/8  in., 13.5 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of pointed oval section, the body broadening toward the arched incurved mouth, each side bisected by a raised vertical flange and carved in low relief with archaistic motifs including a broad register enclosing a fantastic beast mask with wide eyes, exposed fangs, and bovine horns, followed by narrower registers of C-curls, keyfret, bosses, and rope-twist patterns, all surmounted by an integral suspension loop in the form of a double-beast, the stone a pale celadon color with areas and veins of opaque russet, Lucite stand (2).

Provenance: Spink & Son, London, 19th October 1984. 
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 262.

Literature: Roger Keverne, ed., Jade, London, 1995, p. 13, fig. 10.

Lot 95. A beige jade figure of a boy, Song-Ming dynasty (960-1644). Height 2 in., 5.1 cm. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

standing holding a scroll covering the lower body, the face with a gleeful expression below a single topknot, the small feet peeking out from underneath the robe, the scroll inscribed Shang da ren qiu twice, the stone a grayish-beige variegated with brown and pierced through vertically .

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London, 3rd October 1983.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irvin, no. 126.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Florence and Herbert Irving Gift, New York, 10 september 2019

Lot 567. A pair of miniature gold duck-shaped ornaments, Song-Ming dynasty (960-1644). Duck-shaped ornaments 7/8 in. x 5/8 in. (2.3 x 1.6 cm.), bird ornament 1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm.) long; duck-shaped ornaments total weight 3.2 g. Estimate USD 2,000 - USD 3,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.

Each ornament is in the shape of a small duck sitting on a separately-made rectangular lotus leaf with curled edges; together with a miniature filigree bird-form ornament, Ming-Qing dynasty (1368-1911). 

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953, nos. 48 and 64.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 86. 

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. nos. 48 and 64.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pls. 46 and 56.

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. nos. 48 and 64.

Lot 582. A quadrilobed silver cup, Song-Ming dynasty (960-1644);3 ½ in. (8.9 cm.) wide; weight 43.2 g. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019

The small, quadrilobed cup is decorated in the center of the interior with a reserve of conforming shape worked in repoussé outline that encloses a finely engraved, recumbent deer supporting a medallion incised with a fu character, all below a band of classic scrolls finely punched below the rim on the exterior. 

Provenance: Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) Collection, Sweden, before 1953.
Sotheby's London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork. Early Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008, lot 105. 

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1953, cat. no. 138.
Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 1999, pl. 140. 

Exhibited: Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, Chinese Gold and Silver in the Carl Kempe Collection, 1954-55, cat. no. 138.
New York, Asia House Gallery, Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, 1971, cat. no. 65, an exhibition touring the United States and shown also at nine other museums.

Note: The quadrilobed shape and band of classic scroll seen on this rare cup can also be seen on a gold cup illustrated by Jianshe Yu, ed., Essence of Chifeng Historical Relics Series, Chifeng Jin Yi Qi, 2006, p. 179, pl. CJ122, where it is dated Jin dynasty (1115-1234). Rather than the band of classic scrolls being finely punched, as on the present bowl, it is ring-punched. See, also, the circular gold bowl (8.4 cm. diam.) with a band of punched classic scrolls below the rolled rim, dated Song to Yuan, illustrated in Celestial Creations: Art of the Chinese Goldsmith, The Cheng Xun Tang Collection, vol. I, Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007, pp. 234-35, no. D35. 

PARIS - À la rentrée 2019, le musée Jacquemart-André met à l’honneur la Collection Alana, l’une des plus précieuses et secrètes collections privées d’art de la Renaissance italienne au monde, actuellement conservée aux Etats-Unis. En écho à son exceptionnelle collection d’art italien, le musée Jacquemart-André présente plus de 75 chefs-d’œuvre des plus grands maitres italiens comme Lorenzo Monaco, Fra Angelico, Uccello, Lippi, Bellini, Carpaccio, Le Tintoret, Véronèse, Bronzino ou Gentileschi.

Cette exposition offre l’occasion unique d’admirer pour la première fois des tableaux, sculptures et objets d’art qui n’avaient jusque-là jamais été présentés au public. 

Le musée Jacquemart-André est un modèle pour les amateurs qui ont constitué, à leur tour, une collection d’art essentiellement tournée vers la Renaissance italienne. L’ensemble réuni par Édouard André et Nélie Jacquemart a inspiré les collectionneurs américains les plus prestigieux qui ont rassemblé un panel d’œuvres considérable.

Fidèle à la sensibilité originelle de ses fondateurs, le musée Jacquemart-André présente pour la première fois au monde une sélection de chefs-d’œuvre issue de la Collection Alana. Bien connue des historiens de l’art, cette collection est encore méconnue du grand public, car elle n’a jamais été exposée. 

Dans la lignée des plus grandes collections américaines, la Collection Alana est le fruit d’un intense travail de sélection et d’amour de l’art opéré depuis plusieurs décennies par Alvaro Saieh et Ana Guzmán, un couple dont la réunion des prénoms forme celui de la Collection Alana.Au fil des ans, leur passion s’est muée en une véritable fascination pour l’art gothique et la Renaissance italienne et les a progressivement conduits à s’intéresser aussi à la peinture des XVIe et XVIIe siècles.

Le prêt de ces chefs-d’œuvre a été accordéà titre exceptionnel au musée Jacquemart-André en raison de l’affection que les deux collectionneurs lui ont toujours portée. Les œuvres présentées démontrent la vitalité du goût pour la Renaissance italienne, considérée comme moment fondateur de la civilisation occidentale. Elles offrent un aperçu exhaustif de l’une des plus grandes collections privées d’art ancien, de la peinture du XIIIe siècle aux œuvres caravagesques.

13 septembre 2019- 20 janvier 2020

Maître de la Madeleine (Filippo di Jacopo ?), (Actif à Florence, vers 1265 – 1290), Vierge à l’Enfant sur un trône avec deux personnages auréolés; l’Annonciation, deux saintes couronnées (les deux Vierges martyres de sainte Ursule ?), le Baptême du Christ et saint Dominique ou Fra Gherardo ?, Vers 1285-1290 Tempera et or sur panneau, 36,8 x 31,8 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Peintre romain du XIIIe siècle, (Troisième quart du XIIIe siècle), Huit scènes de la vie du Christ: l’Annonciation, la Nativité et l’Adoration des Mages; la Présentation au Temple; le Baptême du Christ; la Cène; l’Agonie au Jardin des oliviers; l’Arrestation; la Flagellation, Tempera et or sur panneau, 60,33 x 84,46 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

 Francesco Traini, (Documentéà Pise, entre 1321 – 1345), Sainte Catherine d’Alexandrie, Vers 1330, Tempera et or sur panneau, 142 x 58 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Luca di Tommé (Actif à Sienne, 1356 – après 1389), L’Archange Saint Michel, Tempera et or sur panneau, 114,4 x 47,8 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Nardo di Cione, (Florence, actif de 1343 à 1365 environ), L’Annonciation Vers 1350-1355, Tempera et or sur panneau, 35 x 23 cm chaque panneau, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak0

Guariento, (1338 – 1370), Triptyque avec la Crucifixion et saint Jean-Baptiste, saint Bartholomée, saint André et sainte Catherine, vers 1360 Tempera et or sur panneau, 58,5 x 71 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Niccolo di Pietro Gerini, (Documenté en Toscane à partir de 1368 – mort entre 1415 et 1417) La Trinité avec la Vierge et quatre anges agenouillés, Vers 1380-1385, Tempera et or sur panneau, 97,46 x 55,25 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Lorenzo Monaco, (Actif à Florence, 1389 – 1423/24), L’Annonciation, vers 1420-1424, Tempera et or sur panneau, 169,6 x 120,7 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Filippo Lippi, (Florence, vers 1406 – Spolète, 1469), Saint Jean l’Évangéliste, Vers 1432-1434, Tempera et or sur panneau, 42,8 x 32 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Luca della Robbia, (Florence, 1399/1400 – 1482), Vierge à l’Enfant dans un médaillon, vers 1440, Modelage à mi-corps dans de la terre cuite peinte et tondo en bois, 37,2 cm (diamètre), Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Antonio Vivarini, (Venise et Veneto, vers 1415 – 1476/1484, documentéà partir de 1440), Saint Pierre martyr chassant le diable déguisé en Vierge à l’Enfant, Vers 1450 Tempera et or sur panneau, 53,4 x 36 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak.

Maître de Pratovecchio, (Actif à et autour de Florence vers 1450), Vierge à l’Enfant sur un trône avec deux anges, sainte Brigitte de Suède et saint Michel archange, années 1450 Tempera et or sur panneau, 200,7 x 215,9 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Paolo Uccello, (Florence, 1397 – 1475), Vierge à l’Enfant, Vers 1453-1454 Tempera et or sur panneau, 45,1 x 30,8 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi, dit Lo Scheggia, (1406 – 1486), L’Histoire de Coriolan (face avant d’un cassone), Vers 1460-1465, Tempera et or sur panneau, 42,8 x 155,2 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Alessandro Fillipepi, dit Sandro Botticelli // collaborateur de Botticelli (Maître des monuments gothiques) (1445 – 1510), Le Christ en croix adoré par sainte Monique, saint Augustin, sainte Marie-Madeleine, saint Jérôme et sainte Brigitte de Suède, début des années 1490, Huile sur panneau, 76,2 x 91,4 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Jacopo di Arcangelo, dit Jacopo del Sellaio, (Florence, 1441 – 1493), Vierge à l’Enfant avec saint Jean-Baptiste enfant et deux anges, vers 1490, Tempera et or sur panneau, 109 cm (diamètre), Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Cosimo Rosselli (1439 – 1507), Le Christ Rédempteur / Christ de douleur, vers 1490, Tempera et or sur panneau, 47 x 38 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Vittore Carpaccio,(1460/6 – vers 1522/5), Pietà avec deux anges, vers 1490, Technique mixte sur panneau, 32,2 x 53 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

 Baccio della Porta, dit Fra Bartolomeo (Sognano (Prato), 1473 – Florence, 1517), Saint Jérôme pénitent, vers 1495, Huile sur panneau, 45,1 x 27,9 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Filippino Lippi (1457 – 1504), Saint Ubald et saint Fridianus, 1496, Tempera sur panneau, 45 x 57 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Francesco Granacci (Villamagna 1469 – Florence 1543), Lamentation sur le Christ mort avec saint Jean-Baptiste et des fidèles, Huile sur panneau, 70,5 x 109,8 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Francesco di Ubertino dit Bachiacca (Florence, 1474 – 1557), La Descente de croix, vers 1520, Huile sur panneau, 127,6 x 113,4 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak  

Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio (Caravaggio, vers 1500 – Messine, 1543), Vierge à l’Enfant, vers 1525, Huile sur panneau, 72,39 x 59,69 cm / 53,3 x 41,5 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Agnolo di Cosimo, dit Bronzino (Florence, 1503 – 1572), Saint Côme, vers 1543-1545, Huile sur panneau, 73,5 x 51,3 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Giovanni Bellini (Documentéà partir de 1459 – mort en 1516), Les deux larrons Disma et Gesta, vers 1475, Tempera sur panneau, 79,4 x 29,3 cm; 79,1 x 29,4 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Paolo Caliari, dit Véronèse, (Vérone, 1528 – 1588), Les Symboles des quatre évangélistes, Huile sur toile, 101,90 x 185,42 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Annibale Carrache, (1560 – 1609), L’Annonciation, Huile sur toile, 134,6 x 98,4 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Orazio Gentileschi, (1562 – 1639-1647), L’Annonciation, Huile sur albâtre, 62 x 51 cm avec cadre, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Orazio Gentileschi, (1562 – 1639), Vierge à l’Enfant, Huile sur panneau, 116,84 x 135,26 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Guido Reni (Bologne, 1575 – 1642), Le Martyre de sainte Apolline, vers 1614, Huile sur cuivre, 44,1 x 33,6 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak 

Bartolomeo Manfredi, (1582 – 1622), Scène de taverne, Huile sur toile, 132,5 x 197,2 cm, Collection Alana, Newark, DE, États-Unis, Photo : © Allison Chipak

Lot 573. A blue and white shallow dish, Jiajing six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1522-1566); 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 11,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019

The shallow, rounded sides raised on a tapering ring foot painted in purplish-blue tones on the exterior with two pheonixes in flight separated by cruciform clouds, one with long trailing tail feathers, the other tail feathers scrolled, with three detached clouds on the slightly convex interior, all within double-line borders.

Lot 23. A celadon and russet jade carving of a camel, Tang - Ming dynasty. Length 2 1/4  in., 5.5 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

recumbent with the legs tucked close to the body, the pronounced ribs showing between the bent legs, two small humps rising along the spine, the neck resting against the shoulders and the head slightly bowed with the eyes open, the lips sealed and the ears relaxed, the fur finely incised at the forehead and hump, the stone a translucent pale green speckled on the surface with yellow-russet skin, pierced twice at the legs, wood stand (2)

Provenance: Alice Boney, New York, 17th March 1980.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 104.

Lot 24. Arare pair of celadon and russet jade interlocking rings, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Overall length 4 1/2  in., 11.5 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

each ring of circular section incised with a ground of swirling qi and carved in high relief with either four or five prowling chilong, the dragons' sinuous limbs and bifurcated tails sweeping around the sides, their backs occasionally dipping beneath the surface and the head and forelimbs emerging at another point along the ring, the cadence of the rise and fall of the twisting bodies imbuing the rings with dynamism and movement, the stone a translucent pale celadon with a few fine russet veins and patches, Lucite stand (2) 

Provenance: Spink & Son, London, 31st October 1984.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 260. 

Literature: Roger Keverne, ed., Jade, London, 1995, p. 140, fig. 30.

Note:Jade 'handling pieces' in the form of interlocking rings are extremely rare, and the present set represents an early example of the type. The extraordinary skill in the carving, together with the quality of the stone, and the amount of jade that would have been reduced and discarded in the production of this set of rings all indicate the lavish circumstances under which they were produced. In addition to being sumptuous and novel, the present set appeals to lofty antiquarian sensibilities by incorporating Han dynasty-style chilong in high relief crawling across the surface. The interlocking rings would have thus conveyed the extreme wealth and refinement of its owner.

Compare a white jade pair of interlocking dragon-form rings, attributed to the Ming dynasty, sold at Christie's London, 13th June 1990, lot 485; a Qing dynasty pair of white jade interlocking rings carved with dragons in low relief, from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 18th March 2009, lot 397; and a Qing dynasty pale celadon jade set of four interlocking rings carved in low relief with dragons amidst clouds, in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, published in Chen Shen and Gu Fang, Haiwai bowuguan cang yuqi tuji zhi yi: Jianada Huangjia Andalüe bowuguan cang Zhongguo gudai yuqi / Chinese Jade Collections from Museums Outside China, No. 1: Ancient Chinese Jades from the Royal Ontario Museum, Beijing, 2016, pl. 199. See also a pair of Qianlong period interlocking rings carved with Liangzhu-style motifs and inscribed with couplets in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and another in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, both published in James C. S. Lin, The Immortal Stone: Chinese Jades from the Neolithic Period to the Twentieth Century, London, 2009, fig. 24 and cat. no. 86, respectively.

Lot 31. A gray and celadon jade ewer and cover, Ming dynasty, 16th century. Overall length 4 1/2  in., 11.5 cm. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the compressed pear-shaped body supported on a conforming foot and sweeping up to a waisted neck and subtly galleried rim, set to one side with a gently curving upright spout connecting to the neck by a dragon-form strut, a long S-curved handle at the opposite side, the pinnacle of the handle pierced for attaching a chain, each side of the body carved in high relief with a raised teardrop-shaped panel enclosing a dragon and its young frolicking amidst swirling clouds, the motif repeated in low relief in a continuous pattern on the body, spout, and handle, a band of keyfret at the rim, prunus blossoms floating on waves around the foot, the domed cover carved in low relief with chilong prowling above a keyfret band and surmounted by an openwork Buddhist lion-form finial, the stone a pale celadon color with a large swath of translucent gray at one side and scattered opaque beige inclusions (2) 

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 15th December 1981, lot 45.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 241.

Note: The form of this ewer derives from Islamic metalwork. Popular in the late Ming dynasty, Islamic-style ewers were produced in a variety of materials including porcelain, jade, and metal. See for example a white and russet jade example excavated from the Dingling Mausoleum, Beijing, and carved with a peach, wanzi, and shou character on the raised panels, illustrated in Gu Fang, Zhongguo chutu yuqi quanji / The Complete Collection of Jades Unearthed in China,  vol. 1,  Beijing, 2005, pl. 65. Compare also a slightly earlier spinach-green jade example with a floral spray carved into the lobed panel, with the remaining surface undecorated, illustrated in James C. Y. Watt, Chinese Jades in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1989, pl. 96. See also a mid to late Ming celadon jade example illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 206, carved allover with the 'Eight Immortals' and with elaborate fittings; a plain white jade ewer with a dragon-form handle from the collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, attributed to the 16th/17th century, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27th November 2007, lot 1538; and a 16th-17th century celadon jade ewer carved with blossoming prunus trees in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, exhibited in Jade: From Emperors to Art Deco, Musée Guimet, Paris, 2016, cat. no. 110.

For contemporaneous examples in porcelain, compare the aubergine-glazed ewer with pierced dragon panels in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 50A. See also a group of mid-16th century kinrande-decorated ewers illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection: Ceramics, vol. II, Geneva, 1969, pls. A177-179.

Lot 68. A large 'chicken bone' jade carving of a Daoist figure, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Height 14 in., 35.5 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

standing with the legs straight, the slightly downcast face with bulging eyes, a long beard and mustache, wearing a two-tier headdress carved with dragons in high relief, dressed in a long robe with the tips of shoes peeking out from beneath, a belt with incised plaques wrapping around the broad belly, the left arm positioned with the hand at the hip holding a ruyi scepter, the right arm bent at the elbow with the hand raised and clasping a long tuft of hair, the mottled gray stone enhanced for the 'chicken bone' effect, secured to a wood stand

Provenance: English Private Collection.
Spink & Son, London, 3rd June 1985.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 264.

Lot 72. A beige and russet jade 'Buddhist lion' group, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Length 3 in., 7.7 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the recumbent mother with a small cub clambering on her back, both with large round eyes, ruyi-shaped noses, and flattened ears, the fur in fine incised lines, the spines and musculature carved in low relief, the mother with mouth open to reveal two rows of teeth, the stone a warm beige with swaths of caramel.

Lot 73. A green and russet jade 'chilong' pouring vessel, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Length 4 in., 10.2 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the ovoid body rising to a slightly irregular incurved rim, one end of the rim extending to a concave surface for pouring, the opposite end with two openwork clambering chilong forming the handle, the front paws and jaws clutching the rim, the sinuous bodies and tails wrapping around the sides, the stone an even bluish-green with patches of russet, wood stand (2).

Provenance: Roger Keverne, London, 2nd February 1997.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 269.

Lot 96. A celadon and brown jade 'Boy and buffalo' group, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Length 2 1/2  in., 6.5 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the buffalo recumbent with its hind legs tucked under the body and the head resting on the folded front legs, the curved horns gently pressed against the shoulders, the tail swept to one side, a small boy crawling over the buffalo's back and holding a rope attached to the nose, the stone a mushroom-brown at the buffalo and turning to white where the boy is carved, wood stand (2)

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London (according to label).
Spink & Son, London, 23rd December 1981.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 379.

Exhibited: An Exhibition of Fine Jade, Spink & Son, London, 1981, cat. no. 22.

Lot 102. A beige and russet jade 'Mythical beast' carving, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Length 3 5/8  in., 9.2 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

recumbent with head slightly turned, one paw raised towards the face with large eyes, a ruyi-shaped nose, and flat rectangular snout, the mouth open to expose the teeth and a recessed tongue, a curved row of bosses extending down the body to delineate the spine, the claws, fur, and curly eyebrows finely incised, the stone a deep honey gradating to beige.

Provenance: Collection of Alfred Salmony (1890-1958).
Collection of Frederick M. Mayer (d. 1974).
Christie's London, 24-25 June 1974, lot 175.
Spink & Son, London, 25th May 1983.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 123.

Lot 74. A white and brown jade carving of Liu Hai, Late Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Height 2 1/2  in., 6.4 cm. Estimate 2,000 — 3,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

crouching with a large three-legged toad pinned under the chest and right arm, the toad's head emerging by the boy's gleeful face, a string of coins clutched in the left hand, the body covered in a robe falling in thick folds over the bent arms and legs, the stone an even milky white with small brown inclusions at the face and legs.

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 25th April 1980.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 307.

Lot 92. A pale grey and black jade 'Mandarin ducks' group, 17th century. Length 2 3/4  in., 7 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the pebble carved in high relief with the two birds looking at each other and resting on a lotus pad, the larger grasping a bunch of lotus stems in the beak, one stem attached to a large blossom and another to an unfurling leaf, the smaller duck with a lotus bud, the base carved in low relief with a spray of swaying leaves, the pale gray stone with black patches.

Provenance: Collection of Baroness Marie-Louise von Callenberg (1901-1982).
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 1st August 1980.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 228.

Lot 94. A large white and brown jade 'Lotus pod' group, 17th century. Length 5 3/8  in., 13.7 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the larger pod facing upward and leaning against the smaller which is turned on its side, the seeds within each carefully modeled, thick stems snaking around the sides and beneath the pods issuing flowers in varying stages of bloom, long slender leaves, and broad pads, each element naturalistically rendered in high relief with minute details incised in fine lines, the stone an opaque creamy color with thin brown veins, the surface with a soft polish.

Provenance: Spink & Son, London, 23rd December 1981.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 239.

Exhibited: An Exhibition of Fine Jade, Spink & Son, London, 1981, cat. no. 16.

Lot 97. A 'chicken bone' jade 'Double ram' group, Ming dynasty, 17th century. Length 3 1/8  in., 7.9 cm. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

finely carved with the larger ram and its young laying side by side, each emitting wisps of qi in the breath, the vapor moving in ruyi-form swirls between their bodies, their faces with gentle expressions, soft ears, and twisting horns, the fur carefully incised, the stone an opaque creamy white with gray veining, stand (2) 

Provenance: Oriental Rarities (Alan Hartman), New York, 1st November 1982.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 256.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Florence and Herbert Irving Gift, New York, 10 september 2019

Lot 434. A rare mottled grey and black jade figure of a foreigner, Yuan-Ming dynasty, 14th-17th century; 4 3/8 in. (11.2 cm.) high.  Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 67,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

Well carved from a somewhat flatish pebble as a standing figure with curly beard and mustache wearing a hood and a cloak over his long robes, holding a dog with fluffy tail and long hair, its head with small ears and flat nose raised towards the scowling face of the foreigner, the pale grey stone with blackish-brown markings throughout, box and wood stand.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008. 

Lot 418. A rare greenish-yellow and brown jade figure of a foreigner, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century; 3½ in. (9 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 50,000. Price realised USD 67,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

Well carved from a somewhat flatish pebble with a bearded foreigner wearing a conical hat and a long-sleeved tunic tied with a wide sash around the waist over a buttoned shirt, with his left arm bent behind his head as his holds a brocade ball to tease the young lion climbing up his right leg, the greenish-yellow stone with brown markings, box.

Lot 414. An unusual small pale brownish-white jade archaistic 'Champion' vase, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 3¼ in. (8.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 20,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

In the form of two tubular pedestal cups carved around the sides with bands of archaistic designs above a band of lotus petals and made to look as if they partially rest atop the back of a recumbent beast, its head projecting at the bottom from one side as a support for a mythical bird standing with a ring suspended from its curved beak while its horns extend backwards onto the rim of the cups, on the reverse the beast's bifurcated tail supports a strap handle surmounted by an animal mask, the semi-translucent stone mottled throughout.

Provenance: Acquired in the 1960's.

Note: Compare the similar double-tube vase dated Ming dynasty (16th-17th century) in the British Museum illustrated by J. Rawson, Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 387, fig. 5. The author relates this cup to a Han dynasty jade cup with cylindrical body on a pedestal foot (fig. 3), p. 386, and also to a gilt-bronze stand in the shape of a bird suspending a ring standing atop a remcumbent beast and flanked by two attached pedestal trays that most likely held tube-shaped cups (fig. 4), p. 387. The British Museum example is also illustrated in the catalogue of the O.C.S. exhibtion, The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, London, 16 June-23 July 1960, pl. 91, no. 276. 

Lot 413. A greenish-white and russet jade figure of a recumbent dog, Late Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 3½ in. (9 cm.) long. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 11,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

Well carved in a recumbent position with head turned inquisitively to the side, with small floppy ears, long mane, pronounced backbone and tufted tail in three sections, the haunches outlined in flames, the pale greenish-gray stone with some opaque inclusions and russet coloring, box.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008. 

Lot 594. A rare kinrande three-tiered box and a cover, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 6 1/8 in. (15.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 9,000. Price realised USD 10,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The cover with a gilt-decorated lobed medallion reserved on an iron-red diaper ground scattered with blossoms, the sides with rectangular figural panels reserved on further diaper grounds, and the bottom section molded with a shaped apron in imitation of a stand, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Japanese private collection. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008. 

Lot 575. An imperial yellow-glazed dish, Hongzhi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1488-1505); 8½ in. (21.5 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 10,000. Price realised USD 11,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The well-potted, rounded sides rising from a slightly tapering foot ring, covered inside and out with a crackled glaze of pale lemon-yellow tone.

Provenance: R.F.A. Riesco Collection, no. 193. 

Note: Compare other Hongzhi-marked, yellow-glazed dishes of this size in the Avery Brundage Collection illustrated by Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, New York, 1981, pl. 113; illustrated in the Asia Society Handbook of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, Asia Society, New York, 1970, p. 79 (top); two in the Percival David Foundation, Catalogue, section 6, nos. 591 and 599; one from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. E.T. Hall included in the O.C.S. Jubilee Exhibition, The Ceramic Art of China, London, 1971, no. 161, pl. 114; one illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, vol. II, London, 1986, col. pl. 774; and one from the Tianminlou Collection included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1990, no. 154.

Lot 578. An imperial yellow-glazed dish, Zhengde six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1506-1521); 6 7/8 in. (17 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 39,400. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The shallow rounded sides flaring to a slightly everted rim from the tapered ring foot, covered inside and out with a glaze of rich egg yolk-yellow color.

Property from the Collection of Neil and Sharon Phillips

Provenance: Eskenazi, London, no. NP5.

Lot 590. An imperial yellow-glazed saucer dish, Zhengde six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1506-1521); 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 39,400. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

With rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to the slightly everted rim, covered inside and out with a glaze of rich egg yolk-yellow color, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Lady William Clayton; Christie's, London, 16 December 1996, lot 118.

Lot 580. A rare imperial yellow-glazed anhua-decorated saucer dish, Jiajing six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1522-1566); 5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 3,000 - USD 4,000. Price realised USD 4,375. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

With shallow rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the interior lightly incised with a medallion of flowering stems of lotus, camellia, peony and chrysanthemum, the first two within a waisted border formed by two slender, leafy stems, with a band of composite foliate meander on the exterior, all under a glaze of deep egg yolk-yellow color.

Provenance: Trocadero, Washington D.C., September 1983.

Note: It is rare to see anhua decoration on a yellow-glazed dish from this period, as generally they tend to be undecorated. For two yellow-glazed dishes incised with dragons, see one illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 37 - Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 50, pl. 45, and the other in the Percival David Foundation included in the illustrated Catalogue of Ming and Qing Monochrome Wares, London, 1989, no. B 502. See, also, the Jiajing turquoise-glazed dish incised with similar decoration from the Saint Louis Art Museum sold in these rooms, 30 March 2005, lot 345. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics And Works Of Art, New York, 19 March 2008. 

Lot 581. A fahua tripod censer, Ming dynasty, 15th century; 5¼ in. (13.3 cm.) across. Estimate USD 2,000 - USD 4,000. Price realised USD 9,375. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

Raised on three cabriole supports, the compressed body decorated in slip with two large peony sprigs that continue up onto the cylindrical neck, all in turquoise and amber on an aubergine ground, wood stand.

Property from the Collection of Neil and Sharon Phillips.

Lot 582. An unusual fahua tripod censer and cover, Ming dynasty, circa 1500; 3½ in. (8.9 cm.) high. Estimate USD 5,000 - USD 7,000. Price realised USD 11,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The barrel-form body raised on three cabriole supports and molded around the sides with a broad band of cell diaper between bead borders, all in turquoise and dark blue, as is the flat cover molded in high relief with lotus leaves, the central leaf with a small aperture for the release of vapor, the four surrounding demi-leaves issuing from the raised outer edge, interiors unglazed, box. 

Note: A fahua tripod flower pot with a band of similar cell diaper incorporated into the decoration and dated c. 1488-1566 is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 422-3, no. 13:27. 

Lot 583. A fahua barrel-form garden seat, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 14 in. (35.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 18,000. Price realised USD 15,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008.

The sides decorated with a wide band of phoenixes in flight amidst a ground of dense pierced clouds interrupted by a pair of mask handles, between rows of bosses and detached waves below and clouds above, the domed top with a pierced central flower head surrounded by demi-lotus leaves at the rim, all in turquoise, pale yellow, pale aubergine and white on a dark blue ground.

Provenance: Estate of Marc Haas; Christie's, New York, 30 May 1991, lot 300.
Christie's, New York, 19 September 1996, lot 258.

Lot 65. A gilt-bronze figure of Weituo, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Height 8 1/4  in., 21.1 cm. Estimate 12,000 — 15,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

standing with the feet wide, the hands clasped in front of the chest, and the gaze directed ahead, the sturdy body elaborately dressed in a long underrobe with brocade borders, an armored knee-length tunic, and a short silk jacket tied at the chest, as well as richly ornamented arm and shin guards, patterned boots, a bejeweled cap secured with a ribbon, and a billowing sash framing the figure, the jacket sleeves and the hem of the underrobe similarly blowing in the wind, the round face with wide eyes drawn upwards at the corners, a short beard and mustache with a short tang extending from each foot, wood stand (2).

Provenance: Eastern Pacific Co., Hong Kong, 15th March 1987.
Collection of Florence (1920-2018) and Herbert (1917-2016) Irving, no. 1863.

Note: According to the Golden Light Sutra, Weituo is a bodhisattva responsible for protecting the teachings of Buddhism and is the leader of the twenty-four celestial guardian deities. Sculptures of him are traditionally placed in front of or to the right of images of the Buddha to serve an apotropaic function. Similar Ming dynasty gilt-bronze figures of Buddhist guardians include a pair in the collection of the Seattle Art Museum published in Hugo Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Rutland and Tokyo, 1967, pls 93 and 94; one in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts published in Hai-wai Yi-chen: Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture, vol. I, Taipei, 1986, pl. 182; and a figure of Weituo sold in these rooms, 17th September 2016, lot 1137.