Lot 3658. A gold-splashed bronze tripod incense burner, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 25.3 cm, 9 7/8  in. Estimate 40,000 — 60,000 HKD (5,093 - 7,640 USD). Lot sold. 1,187,500 HKD (151,204 USD).Courtesy Sotheby's

with a compressed body rising to a waisted neck and everted rim surmounted by a pair of upright handles, all supported on three tapering legs, the base centred with a recessed cartouche enclosing an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark, the exterior of the vessel decorated liberally overall save for the mark with gold splashes.

Lot 3650. A gold-splashed bronze globular incense burner, Qing dynasty, 18th century; w. 16 cm, 6 1/4  in. Estimate 150,000 — 250,000 HKD (19,100 - 31,833 USD). Lot sold. 1,062,500 HKD (135,288 USD).Courtesy Sotheby's

with a globular body rising from three cabriole legs to a gently raised waisted neck and everted rim, surmounted by a pair of flaring upright handles, the base with a recessed cartouche enclosing an apocryphal two-character Xuande seal mark, the exterior liberally splashed with gold mottles.

Lot 3647. An inscribed gold-splashed bronze tripod incense burner, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 18.5 cm, 7 1/4  in. Estimate 150,000 — 250,000 HKD (19,100 - 31,833 USD). Lot sold. 1,000,000 HKD (127,330 USD).Courtesy Sotheby's

sturdily cast with a bombé body rising from three tapering legs to a gently everted rim and surmounted by a pair of upright handles, the base centred with a recessed cartouche enclosing an inscription reading Chenxing banzhu mingxiang, liberally and densely decorated overall with gold splashes.

Provenance: Christie's London, 10th April 1984, lot 319.

Note: It is rare to find a gold-splashed incense burner with an inscription in seal script. Chenxing banzhu mingxiang can be translated as 'Waking up to discover there is still half an incense unburnt'. This is adapted from Su Dongpo’s sixteen enjoyable things in life, here referring to early in the morning.

Lot 3634. A superbly carved tianhuang'Reclining boy' brushrest, 17th century; 6.3 cm, 2 1/2  in., 25.08 gr. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD (76,398 - 101,864 USD). Lot sold. 750,000 HKD (95,498 USD) .Courtesy Sotheby's

exceptionally carved as a boy reclining on his left side with the knees bent, portrayed with a large cicada on his right calf, the cherubic figure further depicted with plump cheeks and a subtle smile, rendered resting his head on his extended left arm with two scrolls beneath his wrist, with floral and auspicious motifs meticulously gilt-incised to the loose robes, the stone of a lustrous yellowish-orange colour, traces of gilding.

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co Ltd, Tokyo.

Note: Although unsigned, this exquisite tianhuang brushrest, intricately carved as a reclining boy with a cicada resting on his leg, is clearly the work of a master craftsman, possibly one of the great carvers active in the early Qing dynasty, such as Zhou Bin and Yang Yuxuan. According to Gerald Tsang and Hugh Moss in the catalogue to the exhibition Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, p. 86, the early soapstone master carvers are set apart by one key feature: every figure is conceived as an individual work of art. This characteristic is evident in the present carving, which is notable not only for the outstanding piece of tianhuang it has been fashioned from but also in the careful and sensitive consideration of his facial expression and details to convey his spirit and individuality, as well as the masterfully conceived robes, which fall naturalistically around his body, and are intricately incised and gilded with floral and auspicious motifs. The golden hue of the precious stone further imbues this figure with a sense of vitality and playfulness.

The same precise texture of tianhuang, suffused with identical crimson-red inclusions in the stone, can be seen on a tianhuang ‘bixie’ seal sold in these rooms, 8th April 2016, lot 3690. For another example of tianhuang figural carving, see the figure of Maitreya by Zhou Bin in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji [The complete collection of Chinese art], vol. 6, Beijing, 1988, pl. 158.

A boy with cicada (Jinchan tongzi) is symbolic of wealth. In traditional mythology, the boy with cicada is a reincarnation of the golden cicada, and a previous manifestation of the Tang monk, traveller and Xuanzang.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 8 october 2019

Lot 3666. A large white jade figure of a phoenix, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 5.5 cm, 6 1/8  in. Estimate 300,000 — 500,000 HKD (38,199 - 63,665 USD). Lot sold.  500,000 HKD (63,665 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's

the substantial boulder intricately worked in the form of a recumbent phoenix, its webbed feet tucked underneath its body and its long plumed tail curled behind, the wings folded on the side, carved with an archaistic dragon in low relief and finely incised with feathers, the crowned head turned slightly to its right, detailed with eyes in slits and a long combed beard, its curved beak grasping a gnarled leafy branch extended to the bird's back and issuing a pair of succulent peaches, the stone of an event white tone, carved wood stand.

Provenance: Douglas Wright, London.
Sotheby's London, 15th April 1983, lot 166.
Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman.
Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2006, lot 1426..

Literature: Robert Kleiner, Chinese Jades from the Collection of Alan and Simone Hartman, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 199.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 8 october 2019

Lot 3631. An Imperial silk and metallic thread carpet, Qing dynasty, 19th century; approx. 212 by 125.5 cm, 83 1/2  by 49 3/8  in. Estimate 250,000 — 300,000 HKD (31,833 - 38,199 USD). Lot sold 375,000 HKD (47,749 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's

woven in the centre with a Bodhisattva seated atop a lotus pedestal before a flaming mandorla, below a pair of confronting dragons contesting a flaming pearl amidst stylised cloud scrolls and floral sprays, all encircled by twelve shaped cartouches variously enclosing auspicious symbols and the Buddhist emblems reserved on a geometric diaper band, the top inscribed Qianqing Gong yuyong (For Imperial use in the Hall of Heavenly Purity).

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 8 october 2019

Lot 3646. A large gold-splashed bronze rectangular incense burner, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century; approx. 212 by 125.5 cm, 83 1/2  by 49 3/8  in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD (38,199 - 50,932 USD). Lot sold 375,000 HKD (47,749 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's

well cast with rounded sides rising to a waisted neck and gently everted rim, the rim surmounted by a pair of upright loop handles, all supported on four tapering legs, the base centred with a recessed panel enclosing an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark, the exterior of the copper-brown body liberally splashed overall save for the mark with gold.

A private collection of gold-splashed incense burners

The diverse range of shapes and the brilliance of the abstract gold splashes on this carefully selected group of incense burners reveal the true connoisseurship of the collector. Their forms take inspiration from antiquity, each distinct from the other, but they are united by the irregular spots and flakes of gold that cover their well-patinated bodies. These seem to emerge from the alloy at different angles, in the random fashion that minerals such as gold are discovered in their natural state. This gives a most pleasing overall appearance, the gold splashes not distracting from the overall forms of the vessels but subtly reinforcing their distinct individuality. For in contrast to archaic ritual bronzes, primarily made for ceremonial use or for the tomb, these brilliant legacies of late Ming and early Qing China were a celebration of life, to be used in daily settings and for bringing warmth and rich colour to a scholar’s desk.                                        

The origin of gilt-bronze splash remains a source of speculation. Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss in Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, p. 184, mention that the popularity of this surface decoration was fostered by Xuande bronzes of the Ming dynasty, where the appearance of the gold splashes was caused by the uneven surface patination of the vessel. Some scholars have linked gold-splashed decoration on bronzes to qingbai and Longquan wares of the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. In the exhibition catalogue China’s Renaissance in Bronze, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, 1993, p. 169, Robert Mowry mentions the appearance of fine paper enlivened with flecks of gold and silver from the early 15th century and suggests that this ‘might have also played a role in the creation of such abstract decoration, either directly inspiring those who designed the bronzes or indirectly moulding taste to appreciate objects sprinkled with gold and silver’.

The enduring question as to which of the large production of bronze incense burners cast with Xuande reign marks are indeed of the period and which are apocryphal is discussed by Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, p. 150, where it is concluded that the textual evidence is unreliable, and that 'accurate identification ... must therefore rest largely on the wares themselves'.

Ulrich Hausmann, the scholar and collector of later Chinese bronzes, discusses Xuande reign-marked bronzes from the late Ming dynasty in his essay, 'In Search of Later Bronzes', ed. Paul Moss, Documentary Chinese Works of Art in Scholar's Taste, Sydney L. Moss Ltd, London, 1983, p. 232:

"The end of the Ming dynasty, for many a period of decadence and decline, saw a surprising variety of new creations and proves to be a much underrated period which produced fine and often highly original metalwork. Many pieces show an uninhibited display of differing designs and unusual shapes which probably make this period the most individualistic of all the later periods. Because of the diversity of appearance, sometimes rather fancy, many of these pieces are wrongly ascribed to the eighteenth century, rather than one hundred years earlier". 

The current incense burner, of stylised archaistic fangding form modified into a pleasing gently rounded body, of great simplicity, but highly tactile, fits perfectly into Hausmann's description. However, as with many of the fine examples in this group of incense burners, commissioned for wealthy merchants and created at flourishing private workshops, it is difficult to date precisely, hence the relatively broad attribution of 17th or 18th century, encapsulating the end of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 8 october 2019

Lot 3651. A gold-splashed bronze rectangular incense burner, 16th-17th century; 18.7 cm, 7 3/8  in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD (38,199 - 50,932 USD). Lot sold 375,000 HKD (47,749 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's

well cast with a tapering body rising from four straight legs to a gently flared rim, flanked by a pair of handles, each modelled with an everted arrowhead tip to the straight upper edge, the gently convex base centred with a recessed rectangular cartouche enclosing an apocryphal six-character Xuande mark, the exterior decorated liberally overall save for the mark with gold splashes.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 12th June 1990, lot 38.

Note: This superbly cast gold-splashed incense burner is of archaistic fangding form, but the classic shape has been skilfully modified with exaggerated geometric handles and a gently curved underside. Another pair of incense burners of the same distinct form, from the collection of Lord Clark of Saltwood was sold in our London rooms, 27th June 1984, lot 6.

For other gold-splashed incense burners of similar high quality, compare the bronze tripod incense from the J. de Lopes bequest and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pl. 15 right, dated as 16th/17th century. See also a gold-splashed tripod incense burner from the collection of Ulrich Hausmann, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2014, lot 3407.

Lot 3657. A  gold-splashed bronze tripod incense burner and stand, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century; 16.3 cm, 6 3/8  in. Estimate 150,000 — 250,000 HKD (19,100 - 31,833 USD). Lot sold 225,000 HKD (28,649 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's

cast with a bombé body rising from three tapering legs to a waisted neck and everted rim, all surmounted by a pair of handles, the base centred with a recessed cartouche enclosing an apocryphal four-character Xuande seal mark, the exterior decorated overall save for the mark with gold splashes, the well cast circular stand with a central circular finial and supported on three incurved ruyi-shaped legs, similarly decorated on the upper surface and sides with gold splashes.

Note: It is rare to find a large gold-splashed incense burner preserved with its matching stand, which adds an element of softness to the overall object. The elegant stand derives its form from a stylised mallow flower with overlapping petals. A near identical stand is illustrated in Philip K. Hu, Later Chinese Bronzes - The Saint Louis Art Museum and Robert Kresko Collections, St. Louis, 2008, cat. no. 28 and cover.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 8 october 2019

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Self portrait, 1887. Oil on cardboard, mounted on parqueted wood panel, 41 x 32.5, cm, The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1954.326.

FRANKFURT.- From 23 October 2019 to 16 February 2020, the Städel Museum is devoting an extensive exhibition to the painter Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). It focuses on the creation of the “legend of Van Gogh” around 1900 as well as his significance to modern art in Germany. Featuring 50 of his key works, it is the most comprehensive presentation in Germany to include works by the painter for nearly 20 years.

MAKING VAN GOGH addresses the special role that gallery owners, museums, private collectors and art critics played in Germany in the early twentieth century for the posthumous reception of Van Gogh as the “father of modern art”. Just less than 15 years after his death, in this country Van Gogh was perceived as one of the most important precursor of modern painting. Van Gogh’s life and work attracted broad and lasting public interest. His art was collected in Germany unusually early. By 1914 there was an enormous number of works by Van Gogh, around 150 in total, in private and public German collections. At the same time, German artists began to vigorously examine his works. Van Gogh’s painting became a model and a substantial source of inspiration in particular for the young Expressionists. The emergence of modernism in Germany is hardly conceivable without his art.

 Van Gogh’s success story is closely connected with the Städel. With the support of the Städelscher Museums-Verein, in 1908 it was one of the first museums to purchase works by the Dutch artist for assembling a modern art collection: the painting Farmhouse in Nuenen (1885) and the drawing Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes (1885). Three years later, the Portrait of Dr Gachet (1890), one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, was bought for the museum’s collection.

In three comprehensive chapters, the exhibition deals with the development and impact of the “legend of Van Gogh” in Germany. How did it come about that Van Gogh became so popular especially in Germany? Who championed his oeuvre, and how did artists respond to it? The exhibition presents Van Gogh as a pivotal figure for art of the German avant-garde. It makes an important contribution to understand the development of art in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Sailboats on Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer Beach, 1888. Oil on canvas, 65 x 81.5 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

The Städel unites more than 120 paintings and works on paper in the exhibition. 50 key works by Vincent van Gogh from all of his creative phases constitute the core of the exhibition. On view are outstanding loans from private collections and leading museums world-wide. 70 works by German artists exemplify Van Gogh’s influence and impact on the subsequent generation. These include works by well-known artists such as Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Alexej von Jawlensky, Paula Modersohn-Becker or Gabriele Münter as well as by others whose artistic positions could be rediscovered, including Peter August Böckstiegel, Theo von Brockhusen, Heinrich Nauen or Elsa Tischner-von Durant.

Sylvia von Metzler, President of the Städelscher Museums-Verein, says about the exhibition: “When the Städelscher Museums-Verein acquired the first works by Vincent van Gogh for the Städel Museum in 1908, this was a courageous and trailblazing decision. Until today both works are still a permanent feature of the museum’s holdings. Without the town’s progressive collector figures, its citizenry and the typical openness with which Frankfurters embraced new artistic currents, the Städel would not have become what it is today. We are delighted that we can now, even more than 100 years later, support this major exhibition devoted to Vincent van Gogh.”

“Shortly after his death, Vincent van Gogh became an ‘artist’s artist’, a benchmark for representatives of his profession. However, the public at large thought his art was outlandish, as it could hardly be gauged according to traditional standards. This changed in the early days of the twentieth century concurrent with the Expressionist movements in Germany. Soon after encountering Van Gogh’s works in publications and exhibitions, artists cultivated a particularly intimate relationship with their idol. They orientated themselves towards his impasto application of colour, rhythmic brushwork, rich colour contrast, bold compositions and motifs, as well as his ornamentally vibrant drawings. At the same time, his personal perception of nature and its anti-academic representation played a crucial role”, explains Alexander Eiling, Head of Modern Art, Städel Museum, and curator of the exhibition.

“German art history of the twentieth century would have proceeded completely differently without Van Gogh. Artists’ groups such as ‘Die Brücke’ or ‘Der Blaue Reiter’ owe their constitutive stimulus to Van Gogh’s paintings. The aim of our exhibition is to reveal these connections and render visible Van Gogh’s pioneering importance for modern art in Germany”, says Felix Krämer, General Director of the Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, and curator of the exhibition.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Provencal Farmhouse, 1888. Oil on canvas, 46.1 x 60.9 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington © National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.34

EXHIBITION TOUR
The tour extends over 2,000 square metres of exhibition space in the Garden Halls of the Städel Museum and is divided into three chapters: Legend, Influence, and Painting Style. The chapters deal with the origin of the legend surrounding Vincent Van Gogh as a person, with his influence on the German community of artists, and finally with his distinct style of painting, which was so fascinating for numerous artists of subsequent generations.

CHAPTER 1: LEGEND
Van Gogh Exhibitions in Germany before the First World War
Ten years after his death, Van Gogh was still unknown in Germany. The first exhibition projects opened in 1901 on the initiative of the Berlin-based art dealer Paul Cassirer. In collaboration with Van Gogh’s sister-in-law and trustee of his estate Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Cassirer organised traveling exhibitions that were presented at venues in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Munich and Frankfurt, among other cities. The first room of the Städel exhibition presents a selection of outstanding works by Van Gogh that were on display in Germany at that time, including The Arlésienne (1888, Musée d’Orsay, Paris), Fishing Boats on the Beach at Les SaintesMaries-de-la-Mer (1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/Vincent van Gogh Foundation) or The Stevedores in Arles (1888, Museo Nacional ThyssenBornemisza). By the First World War, nearly 120 presentations all over the country had featured works by Van Gogh. These activities culminated in the Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne in 1912, where the first five rooms were devoted to Van Gogh and in which more than 125 works were on display.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Farmhouse in Nuenen, 1885. Oil on canvas, 60 x 85 cm, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main. Property of the Städel Museum Association © Städel Museum - U. Edelmann 

Van Gogh in German Museums
The increasing presence of works by Van Gogh in exhibitions also had an impact on the acquisition policy of German museums. On an international level, these were among the first institutions to buy works by the Dutchman, long before this occurred in France, England and the United States. The Museum Folkwang in Hagen (later in Essen), which was founded by the private collector Ernst Osthaus, broke the first ground. Museums in Bremen, Dresden, Frankfurt, Cologne, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Munich and Szczecin followed. The Städel exhibition brings together representative examples of early acquisitions, including Van Gogh’s Portrait of Armand Roulin (1888, Museum Folkwang, Essen), Roses and Sunflowers (1886, Kunsthalle Mannheim), View of Arles (1889, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Neue Pinakothek München) and Still Life with Quinces (1887/88, Albertinum / Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden). In conservative circles, critical voices against this development were raised early on. In 1911, the Worpswede landscape painter Carl Vinnen initiated a protest pamphlet opposing the acquisition of a Van Gogh painting for the Kunsthalle Bremen. A total of 123 artists criticised the perceived dominant position of French Impressionism in German museum collections and the waste of tax money. Numerous artist, museum directors and critics defended the purchase in a response publication and placed emphasis on the importance of a contemporary international orientation of the acquisition policy of German museums.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Portrait of Dr. Ing. Gachet, 1890. Etching in red, 18.3 x 15.1 cm © Städel Museum, Frankfurt / Main. Photo: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main 

an Gogh at the Städel
The first purchase of a Van Gogh painting by a publicly funded museum was made in 1908. With the support of the Städelscher Museums-Verein, the director of the Städel, Georg Swarzenski, acquired the painting Farmhouse in Nuenen (1885) as well as the drawing Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes (1885) for the collection of modern art. This was followed in 1911 by the purchase of the principal work Portrait of Dr Gachet (1890), which became the museum’s showpiece. This last portrait painted by Van Gogh marked the interface between art of the nineteenth century and classic modernism. The National Socialists confiscated the painting in 1937 and sold it on the international art market in exchange for foreign currency. The Städel exhibition presents the empty picture frame, which continues to be in the museum’s depot to this day – the painting itself is part of a private collection and not accessible to the public. On the occasion of the exhibition, the Städel has produced a five-part podcast that traces the turbulent history of the painting.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Willows at sunset, 1888. Oil on canvas on cardboard, 31.6 cm x 34.3 cm © Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands

Van Gogh Collectors in Germany
Vincent van Gogh’s popularity in Germany is reflected in the large number of private collectors who were already buying his art at an early date. The most important protagonists include Thea and Carl Sternheim, Adolf Rothermund, Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Harry Graf Kessler as well as Willy Gretor and Maria Slavona. Several art dealers, such as Alfred Flechtheim and Paul Cassirer, also acquired works for their collections. The exhibition features artworks by Van Gogh that formerly belonged to German collections, such as Farmhouse in Provence (1888, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), The Ravine(Les Peiroulets) (1889, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) or The Poplars at Saint-Rémy (1889, The Cleveland Museum of Art). A large proportion of the private collectors came from the educated Jewish middle class, which established modern art in Germany. The inflation of the 1920s, the Great Depression and the persecution and murder of Jewish citizens during the period of National Socialism resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of works by Van Gogh in private German collections, so that today only a handful remain.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), The Straw Piles, 1888. Pencil, Brown Ink and Bourdon, 24.1 x 31.9 cm © Museum of Fine Arts Budapest

From Artist to Literary Hero: Julius Meier-Graefe
Prior to the First World War, Van Gogh became a popular topic of conversation among German collectors. The writings of Julius Meier-Graefe made a crucial contribution to this development. The art critic and gallery owner had lived in Paris in the 1890s and noticed how French and Dutch authors turned Van Gogh into an “art apostle” after his death who, following Jesus Christ, lived and suffered for his painting. Meier-Graefe picked up on the incipient myth-making around the artist and processed it for the German public. His three-volume Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst (History of the Development of Modern Art, 1904) and the monograph Vincent van Gogh (1910) became bestsellers in Germany. Meier-Graefe gradually embellished his stories about the artist over the years. His two-volume novel Vincent was published in 1921and promoted the formation of the legend around the artist.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Augustine Roulin (La Berceuse), 1889. Oil on canvas, 91 x 72.5 cm © Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Forgeries
The fact that Van Gogh was one of the most popular artists in Germany before 1914 is also demonstrated by the forgeries that circulated on the art market. The approximately 30 Van Gogh forgeries put into circulation in the 1920s by the gallery owner Otto Wacker resulted in the first art forgery lawsuit in Germany. Numerous experts were also involved. The trial ended with Otto Wacker being sentenced to several years in prison. However, not all forgeries were intended as such, as can be illustrated by the copy of a famous self-portrait by Van Gogh. The painting being presented in the exhibition was created by the young French painter Judith Gérard in 1897. Shortly thereafter, it found its way onto the art market without her knowledge and was sold as a genuine Van Gogh. Her signature had been painted over with a floral decoration. It would be decades before Gérard was able to convince the world that she was the painting’s true author.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), The Poplars at Saint-Rémy, 1889. Oil on canvas, 61.6 x 45.7 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Legacy of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., 1958.32. Photo: Courtesy The Cleveland Museum of Art. 

CHAPTER 2: INFLUENCE
The Simple Life: Peasant Motifs
A large share of Van Gogh’s art addresses rural life and the arduous work of the peasants. His role model was the French painter Jean-François Millet. Van Gogh translated Millet’s motifs into his own pictorial language, whereby he lent them a chromaticity that corresponded with his personal sensitivity. Van Gogh’s paintings in turn impressed numerous artists. They orientated themselves towards him, and at the same time they tried to develop their own signature. The Städel exhibition juxtapose works by Van Gogh, such as Potato Planting (1884, Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal), Two Peasants Digging (1889, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) or the portrait Augustine Roulin (Rocking a Cradle) (1889, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam) with works by Paula Modersohn-Becker (Woman from the Poorhouse with Glass Globe and Poppies, 1907, Museen Böttcherstraße, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen), Gabriele Münter Woman from Murnau (Rosalia Leiß), (1909, Schloßmuseum Murnau) or Heinrich Nauen (Peasant Digging, 1908, Galerie Ludorff, Düsseldorf). 

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), The Sower (after Millet), 1890.  Oil on canvas, 64 x 55 cm © Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands

Self-Portraits
The self-portraits by Van Gogh motivated younger artists to depict themselves in a similar manner. Van Gogh was regarded as a ‘tragic hero’, as a suffering artist who was misunderstood by society and had sacrificed himself for his art. This image strongly appealed to male artists in particular. The exhibition demonstrates this by self-portraits by Cuno Amiet (c.1907), Max Beckmann (1905), Peter August Böckstiegel (1913), Ludwig Meidner (1919) or Heinrich Nauen (1909), among others.

Peter August Böckstiegel (1889-1951), Self-portrait, 1913. Oil on canvas, 48 ​​x 38.5 cm © Peter-August-Böckstiegel-Stiftung, Werther (Westf.)

Drawings and Reproductions
Van Gogh’s oeuvre consists in large part of drawings. At the beginning of his career, the artist trained primarily by copying original works before venturing his own motifs. In later years, his drawings came to be more closely linked to his painting. They served to prepare a composition or to repeat and condense a motif he had found in a painting. Because there were only limited possibilities available to reproduce works in colour in the early twentieth century, initially it was primarily Van Gogh’s drawings that were illustrated in publications. Their graphically clear structure was particularly well suited for being transferred into line blocks (etchings) and reproduced. Drawings by Van Gogh that appeared in magazines and books supplied German artists with their first illustrative material and inspired them to make their own attempts. In the Städel exhibition, two rooms present a selection of Van Gogh’s drawings, including masterpieces such as Haystacks (1888, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest) and Farmhouse in Provence (1888, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Just how differently the German Expressionists reacted to Van Gogh’s vital drawing technique is illustrated in the works by, for example, Fritz Bleyl, Paul Klee, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wilhelm Morgner and Max Pechstein.

Otto Dix (1891-1969), Sunrise, 1913. Oil on cardboard, 50.5 x 66 cm © Städtische Galerie Dresden - Art Collection Museums of the City of Dresden. Photo: Herbert Boswank. Acquired in 2012 with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation, the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States Hermann Reemtsma Foundation and the Rudolf-August Oetker Foundation 

“Van Goghiana”
The members of the ‘Die Brücke’ in Dresden dealt with Van Gogh in a particularly vigorous way. They saw works by the artist in an exhibition in Dresden in 1905. For the young students of architecture Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, this experience was at once a revelation and also liberation. Van Gogh’s paintings prompted them to apply paint to the canvas directly out of the tube. From then on, strong contrasts, impasto layers of paint and simplified forms defined their works. In doing so, they wanted to emphasize their direct and unadulterated access to the motif, which no longer orientated itself towards the standards of academic painting. The fascination with Van Gogh was in part so pronounced that Emil Nolde recommended that his colleagues call themselves “Van Goghiana” instead. However, the artistic reaction of the members of the ‘Die Brücke’ was in some cases highly diverse. While the academically trained painters Max Pechstein and Cuno Amiet scrutinized Van Gogh’s painting and imitated his systematically placed brushstrokes, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff dealt with him more freely. These various approaches are presented in the Städel exhibition, including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Fehmarn Houses (1908, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main) or Erich Heckel’s House in Dangast (The White House) (1908, Carmen ThyssenBornemisza Collection, on loan to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid).

Judith Gérard (1881-1954) and another, copy after van Gogh's Self-Portrait for Gauguin, 1897/98. Oil on canvas, 61 x 50 cm © Sammlung Emil Bührle, Zurich

CHAPTER 3: PAINTING STYLE
Stylistic Pluralism
The third chapter of the exhibition deals with Van Gogh’s distinct painting style. In his short productive period, which encompasses no more than a decade, the artist worked in an extraordinary range of styles. Beginning in the second half of the 1880s, he experimented, in part simultaneously, with the various painting styles of Realism, Impressionism, Pointillism, Cloisonism or Symbolism. These are only some of the kaleidoscope of modern art movements that Van Gogh encountered after his arrival in Paris in 1886. For Van Gogh, the fundamental question was whether his paintings should be planar and form-bound or vibrantly structured and dynamic. He sought his own path between the two. The exhibition presents works by Van Gogh that illustrate this versatility, including, for example, Le Blute-Fin Mill (1886, Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle and Heino/Wijhe, the Netherlands), Square Saint-Pierre, Paris (1887, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven), Piles of French Novels (1887, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam/Vincent van Gogh Foundation) or Poppy Field (1890, Kunstmuseum Den Haag). Structure and surface, rhythm and stasis, impasto and smooth surfaces, subdued coloration and strong colour contrasts encounter one another in Van Gogh’s oeuvre and are coequal means of organizing a painting that are in part used simultaneously.

Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907), Old Poor Peasant with glass ball and poppies, 1907. Oil on canvas, 96.3 x 80.2 cm, Museums Böttcherstraße, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen © Museums Böttcherstraße

Surface
Subsequent generations of artists made reference to various aspects of Van Gogh’s painting. Those artists in Germany who aimed for a calm pictorial structure while simultaneously enhancing colour, trained themselves based on his planar compositions. The exhibition features works by, among others, Gabriele Münter (Alley in front of a mountain, 1909, private collection), August Macke (Vegetable Fields, 1911, Kunstmuseum Bonn) and Felix Nussbaum (Arles sur Rhône Avenue of Tombs, Les Alyscamps, 1929, Felix-Nussbaum-Haus, Osnabrück) as well as the painting Flowers (1908, private collection) by the largely forgotten painter Elsa Tischner-von Durant. With Josef Scharl’s Still Life with Candle and Books (1929, Sammlung Henry Nold), the exhibition takes a look at the changed reception of Van Gogh in Germany after the First World War. His emotionalism and expressivity were replaced by an increasingly modest pictorial language.

Wilhelm Morgner (1891-1917), The Tree, 1911. Oil on canvas, 60 x 86 cm © Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest. Photo: Thomas Drebusch

Rhythm and Structure
In the last years of his life, Van Gogh’s impasto style of painting was accompanied by a rhythmical structuring of his works. At the same time, the markedly directional line strokes bordered on ornamental design. The brushwork became an autonomous means of expression and forced the descriptive function of painting into the background. Kurt Badt, who saw a kind of “painting draughtsman” in Van Gogh, described this phenomenon as “expressive linearity taking on with a life of its own”. Line and colour no longer opposed each other as artistic means, but were connected with one another. One room in the Städel exhibition presents a series of examples for how artists made reference to Van Gogh’s style of painting that brought together vitality and structure. These include members of the artists’ groups ‘Die Brücke’ or ‘Der Blaue Reiter’ as well as singular positions such as Christian Rohlfs and Max Beckmann. Furthermore, with the painter Theo von Brockhusen, who has been largely forgotten today, the Städel is presenting an artist that closely followed Van Gogh’s example in terms of motif and style. His adoption of the latter’s specific brushstroke earned him the nickname “von Goghhusen”. 

Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), Allee vor Berg, 1909, oil on board on wood, 49 x 50cm, private property, southern Germany © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019 © Galerie Thomas, Munich

“Painter of the Sun”
Van Gogh also made an impression on the German Expressionists with paintings in which the sun stands on the horizon as a blazing fixed star. These depictions were unusual in so far as painters had previously reproduced sunlight for the most part indirectly. By contrast, Van Gogh shifted the sun as a life-giving and hopeful symbol into the centre of his compositions, for instance in Willows at Sunset (1888, KröllerMüller Museum, Otterlo). Moreover, numerous representatives of Expressionism understood Van Gogh’s form of “sun painting” as an apocalyptic symbol. This interpretation, in which Julius Meier-Graefe had a decisive share, fit in with the unsettling times before the First World War; however, it also seemed plausible in the tense political situation of the Weimar Republic. Explicit reactions to these works by Van Gogh can be found in both phases, such as, for example, Otto Dix’s Sunrise (1913, Städtische Galerie Dresden – Kunstsammlung, Museen der Stadt Dresden), Wilhelm Morgner’s The Tree (1911, Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Soest), Walter Ophey’s River Landscape with Boats and Red Sun (1913/14, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf), Max Pechstein’s Rising Sun (1933, Saarlandmuseum – Moderne Galerie, Saarbrücken, Stiftung Saarländischer Kulturbesitz) or Josef Scharl’s Landscape with Three Suns (1925, Kunsthalle Emden – Stiftung Henri und Eske Nannen).

From left: A Quartz Crystal Cluster from Arkansas 90 x 87 x 57 cm, The Cullinan Dream: A 24.18ct Fancy Intense Blue VS2 Rectangular-Shaped Diamond, A 1.09ct Fancy Purplish Red SI2 Square-Shaped Diamond, An Amethyst Geode with Calcite and Agate from Brazil 89 x 67 x 32cm. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

LONDON– From 8 to 12 November 2019, Christie’s in partnership with De Beers Group will present Rare Treasures of the Earth, a museum-quality public exhibition uncovering the mystery of nature’s most beautiful gems. Featuring spectacular fancy coloured diamonds alongside rare rocks and minerals, the exhibition will showcase interactive demonstrations from De Beers Group Institute of Diamonds, tracing the diamond’s journey from deep within the earth to a captivating jewel.

Focusing on the science behind the diamonds, experts from De Beers Group will be on hand to educate visitors as to what gives these rare diamonds their unique colours, and the rigorous criteria a diamond must meet to be classified as a fancy colour. They will also share the intricate process involved when polishing a fancy coloured diamond and provide specialist grading demonstrations from the Institute’s team of specially trained graders.

Mei Giam, Christie’s Jewellery Private Sales Director: “The coloured diamond is the world’s most valuable gemstone, an exclusive beauty revered for its rarity and individual colour expression. With a shared dedication to scholarship and expertise, we are delighted to collaborate with De Beers Group on our Private Sales Jewellery event, Rare Treasures of the Earth, exploring the origin, rarity and value of these extraordinary gemstones. The exhibition represents our annual public facing celebration of jewels, sharing insight into the stones at the heart of the jewellery we wear, admire and aspire to own.”

Jonathan Kendall, President of De Beers Group Institute of Diamonds: “Christie’s and De Beers Group share a passion for the miracles of nature that are diamonds and how they play a central role in the luxury world. With De Beers Group’s diamond knowledge based on a legacy of more than 100 years at the vanguard of the industry, our leading Institute of Diamonds’ grading reports provide Christie’s collectors with the assurance and insight they are seeking about these exquisite gemstones. The Rare Treasures of the Earth exhibition represents a perfect partnership where both De Beers Group and Christie’s can bring their expertise to bear, and we look forward to developing our close relationship even further.”

Leading the exhibition is The Cullinan Dream, a 24.18ct Fancy Intense Blue VS2 Rectangular-Shaped Diamond, drawn from the Cullinan mine in South Africa, formerly known as the Premier mine. The combination of the size, colour and extreme rarity together make the Cullinan Dream a truly exceptional diamond, remarkable for its pure and consistently strong blue colour throughout every facet. Further highlights include superb coloured diamonds including a Fancy Vivid Pinkish Purple Diamond of 2.01ct, a Fancy Purplish Red Diamond of 1.09ct and a Fancy Vivid Bluish Green Diamond of 1.42ct. 

The Cullinan Dream, 24.18ct Fancy Intense Blue VS2 Rectangular Shaped Diamond. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

A 2.01ct Fancy Vivid Pinkish Purple VS1 Rectangular-Shaped Diamond. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

A 1.42ct Fancy Vivid Bluish Green SI1 Rectangular Shaped Diamond. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

Complementing the coloured diamonds in the exhibition is a vast selection of unusual minerals and crystals sourced from the furthest corners of the globe by Dale Rogers Ammonite, London’s premier crystal gallery. Breathtaking and magnificent examples include jade, labradorite, quartz and agate. Together these geological wonders offer an experience of nature’s alchemy in an exhibition paying tribute to earth’s treasury and legacy to mankind.

This selling exhibition is curated by Christie’s Jewellery Private Sales and the Natural History Department, demonstrating the striking synergy between these rare crystals and exceptional jewels, each formed within the earth and marking the first time such a collaboration has taken place at the auction house.

Christie’s Jewellery Private Sales is a bespoke service dedicated to clients who wish to acquire jewels privately as and when they wish outside the auction calendar. Building upon Christie’s long-standing tradition, with a global presence in over 40 countries, Private Sales provide privileged access to rare and exquisite gems through an extensive network of collectors and professionals around the world.

MUNICH.- Anthony van Dyck – celebrated across Europe for his portraits of the rulers, military commanders, artists, and beauties of his age. He captured his subjects with unparalleled vitality while also clearly denoting their status. Yet Van Dyck’s path to fame was no easy one: the early years of his career were overshadowed by the famous Peter Paul Rubens: the role model, as much admired as he was unassailable, whose influence is most palpable in Van Dyck’s early history paintings. It was only in Italy and through the close study of Venetian painting – of Titian and Tintoretto – that Van Dyck came to find his own style.

The exhibition allows the visitor to get close to an artist who was always probing – wrestling with his own creativity and painterly goals. Van Dyck’s profound study of artistic role models ultimately saw him shift from history painting to portraiture, a genre that he made his own, rising to become one of the best-known and most sought-after painters of his age. He responded to this high demand by adopting efficient production methods and by ruling over a workshop of many assistants, each set a clearly defined task, so much so that he stands before us not only as Van Dyck the artist, but also, in a certain sense, as Van Dyck the entrepreneurial manager.

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Self portrait, c. 1615. Oil on wood (oak), 43 x 32.5 cm © Vienna, Picture Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts

The insights into the artist’s life and work presented here draw on the results of several years’ research on the Van Dyck collection in Munich, in a scholarly project that preceded today’s exhibition. Its aim was to arrive at a more precise chronology of the paintings, to trace the evolution of the master’s personal style, and thus to derive criteria to distinguish between autograph works and those by the workshop. With the help of X-radiographs and infrared reflectograms (also on display in the exhibition), it is possible to trace how Van Dyck developed, discarded, and reworked his compositions, especially in the early history paintings, before finally arriving at an image that suited his conceptions. At the same time, the insights into the pictures’ genesis and the applied working methods shed light on one of the most productive artist’s workshops of the 17th century.

Featuring some 100 exhibits, among them numerous stellar loans from museums and private collections from across Europe and the USA, the show traces Van Dyck’s development as an artist. The first section is devoted to his early works. These are mainly religious and mythological paintings that display a clear indebtedness to Rubens. Characteristic of this period is the complex genesis of each work, as illustrated in the exhibition by the study drawings and sketches that went into each canvas’ making.

Anthony van Dyck, Self-portrait, c. 1620/21. Oil on canvas, 119.7 × 87.9 cm © New York, lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949

Opening the fourth chapter are ten grisaille oil sketches from the collection of the Alte Pinakothek, which were made as part of Van Dyck’s mammoth printmaking project, the ‘Iconography’: they reflect the work processes within the workshop, from the master’s own designs to the printmakers’ final execution in copperplate or etching. Both subsequent reproductive prints and the numerous copies made by his own specially qualified workshop assistants were instrumental in disseminating Van Dyck’s art, heightening his fame and securing his place in the history of art.

Alte Pinakothek - 25.10.2019  ‐  02.02.2020

Anthony van Dyck, Self-Portrait, c. 1620/21 and 1627. Oil on canvas, 81.5 x 69.5 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Anthony van Dyck, DrunkenSilenus, c. 1617/18. Oil on canvas, 107 × 91.5 cm © Berlin, bpk - Picture Agency for Art, Culture and History / Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Old Master Paintings Gallery / Elke Estel / Hans-Peter Klut.

Peter Paul Rubens, DrunkenSilenus, c. 1617/18, additions c. 1625. Oil on wood, 212 × 214.5 cm (total) © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Susanna and the and the Elders, c. 1621/22. Oil on canvas, 194 x 144 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck, The holy family in a landscape, c. 1630. Oil on canvas, 134.7 x 114.8 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Titian, The Virgin and Child at an evening landscape, c. 1560. Oil on canvas, 173.5 × 132.7 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck, Sebilla vanden Berghe, c. 1630. Oil on canvas, 210.5 x 136.7 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck, FilipsGodines, c. 1630. Oil on canvas, 211.5 x 137.5 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck, The painter Theodoor Rombouts, c. 1631/32. Oil on wood (oak), 122.9 x 90.8 cm, Bavarian State Painting Collections , Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck, Susanna Fourment with Her Daughter Clara del Monte, 1621. Oil on canvas, 172 x 117 cm
© National Gallery of Art, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, Washington, DC

Anthony van Dyck, The Engraver Karel van Mallery, c. 1630‒1635. Oil on canvas, 99.5 x 84 cm© The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo.

Anthony van Dyck, Anna Thielen with her daughter Anna Maria Rombouts, c. 1631/32. Oil on Wood, 122.8 x 90.7 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Anthony van Dyck, Two Studies of a Bearded Man, c. 1616/17. Oil on paper, canvas and wood, 40.5 x 53.5 cm © KBC Art Collection Belgium, Museum Snijders & Rockox House, Antwerp.

Anthony van Dyck (workshop), Lucas van Uden, c. 1629-1634. Oil on Wood, 24.4 x 20.5 cm © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Staatsgalerie Neuburg.

Anthony van Dyck, Lucas van Uden, c. 1629-1635. Black chalk on paper, 252 x 162 mm © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Lucas Vorsterman (after Anthony Van Dyck), Lucas van Uden, 2nd State. Engraving, 257 x 161 mm © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Anthony van Dyck, George Gage with Two Attendants, c. 1622/23. Oil on canvas, 115 x 113.5 cm © The National Gallery, London

Lot 50. A yellow-glazed dish, Hongzhi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1488-1505); 8 ½ in. (21.5 cm). Estimate GBP 5,000 - GBP 10,000 (USD 6,485 - USD 12,970). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

The dish is finely potted with rounded sides and a slightly flared rim. The interior and exterior are covered with a glaze of soft yellow tone which stops above the short, tapered foot rim.

Provenance: Private collection in North America, acquired in the early 1940s and thence by descent within the family.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019

Lot 51 A rare inscribed white 'monk's cap' ewer, Yongle period (1403-1424); 8 ¼ in. (21 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 60,000 - GBP 80,000 (USD 77,820 - USD 103,760). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

The ewer is elegantly potted with a bulbous body raised on a short splayed foot, below a curved handle with a ruyi-head tab, all decorated in a soft white glaze, tianbaiyou. The neck, shoulder and lower body above the foot are decorated with incised foliate patterns, and the body is incised with a Tibetan inscription in one horizontal line.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 17 March 2015, lot 119.

Note: The Tibetan inscription may be translated as:

'May there be peace and tranquility during the day;
May there be peace and tranquility during the night;
May there be peace and tranquility at noon;
Peace and tranquility day and night;
The Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) ensure peace and tranquility.'

Compare this to a similar ewer from the Meiyintang Collection which sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 9 October 2012, lot 10.

The ‘monk’s cap’ ewer, or sengmaohu, originated in the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, as evidenced by the example excavated from a Yuan dynasty relics site in Beijing. See Rong Dawei, Beijing: lishi wenwu chenlie, Beijing, n.d. This example has a pale bluish-white glaze described by some scholars as danqing (pale bluish-white), and by others as qingbai ware. It is slightly smaller in size (19.7 cm.) than the subsequent early Ming examples, which, like the present ewer, are typically 21 cm. high.

The exact origins of the shape of the ‘monk’s cap’ ewer remain unknown, but the shape likely derives from the hat of the karmapas, leaders of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, who performed sacred rituals and served as spiritual advisors to the emperor. Before the start of the Yuan dynasty, Khublai Khan, a then governor of the Mongol territory, summoned Karma Pakshi (b. 1204), the Second Karmapa, to his court. Karma Pakshi wore a black hat called a gomsha that resembled the top portion of the ‘monk’s cap ewer.’ The Karmapa remained in court during the Yuan dynasty, and his presence aligns with the creation of the first ‘monk’s cap’ ewer during this time. The points on the hat, and thus of the ewer, likely represent the Buddhas of the Five Directions. The five points are also found on initiation crowns used in Vajrayana Buddhist rituals. The hat was first worn by the First Karmapa a century earlier during the performance of important rituals, and functioned as a symbol of the karmapa’s power. Moreover, the karmapas were thought to be bodhisattvas in their own right, who manifested as Guanyin when wearing the famed hat.

Because of the long history of ceramics being fashioned after metalwork prototypes in Buddhist material culture, scholars have held the presumption that ‘monk’s cap’ ewers were based on an earlier Tibetan metalwork prototype. However, there are no extant metalwork examples known predating the Yuan dynasty ewers and all known examples have been dated to the eighteenth century or later. A nineteenth-century Tibetan copper and tin example dating to the 19th century, which has an additional handle to one side (as opposed to the one handle on the ceramic ‘monk’s cap’ ewer), is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number IM.7-1915. This metalwork example is 38.8 cm. high, significantly larger than the extant ceramic examples.

It remains possible that the ‘monk’s cap’ ewer was an innovation of the Yuan court and derives directly from Buddhist costume, and that the metalwork examples are based on the ceramic ewers. This is substantiated by evidence in the Yuan Shi (Official History of the Yuan Dynasty), juan (section) 88, that documents that hat and ceramic production were supervised by a single bureau—The Bureau for Imperial Manufactures. The Yuan Shi states that this bureau supervised both the Fuliang Porcelain Bureau (the bureau that oversaw porcelain production in the Yuan dynasty) and the production of hats made of horsehair, coir (coarse fiber) and rattan.

The first ‘monk’s cap’ ewers of the Ming dynasty were made during the Yongle period (1403-1425), when the present ewer was made. In this period, ‘monk’s cap’ ewers were made in monochrome glazes of copper-red and underglaze-blue, but tianbai, or ‘sweet white’, were the most popular. Over fifty-five examples of Yongle ‘monk’s cap’ ewers have been excavated from Jingdezhen, and the majority were tianbai. Notably, 98% of excavated shards from the Yongle period were also tianbai, illustrating the popularity of white ceramics at this time.

Scholars speculate that the Yongle emperor commissioned many rituals using white vessels in ceremonies memorializing his parents in order to prove his legitimacy, as he had usurped his nephew’s throne. The Fifth Karmapa, known as Halima or Deshin Shekpa (1384-1415), was invited to the Yongle court to preside over these ceremonies, once again aligning the presence of karmapas in the court with ewer production. The Ming shi lu (The Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty), xiyu section 3, documents the Fifth Karmapa’s importance at court and his presiding over memorial ceremonies at Linggusi. White ‘monk’s cap’ ewers like the present ewer may have been made to give to the Karmapa as gifts after the completion of ritual ceremonies (Li Xianyi, ed., Jingdezhen Zhushan chutu: Yongle Xuande guanyao ciqi zhanlan, Hong Kong, 1989, 62).

While many of the Yongle tianbai ‘monk’s cap’ ewers are plainly decorated, several notable tianbai examples are decorated in anhua with Tibetan inscriptions, like the present ewer. One very similar example is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1991.253.36, which bears the same inscription as the present ewer. This canonical Tibetan Buddhist inscription appears on Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags. Interestingly, the letters on the inscription are fairly uniform in height, suggesting that the text was drawn by someone unfamiliar with Tibetan script, typical for an imperial piece made in Jingdezhen at this time. This same Tibetan inscription also appears on a Xuande period blue and white stem bowl in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. For an example of a white tianbai ‘monk’s cap’ ewer with anhua decoration that still bears its original cover, see Chen and Wang, Xueyu cangzheng: Xizang wenwu jinghua, Shanghai, 2001, p. 177, no. 88.

‘Monk’s cap’ ewer production continued into the Xuande period (1426-1435) in new colors, motifs, and decoration. One of the most notable innovations of the ‘monk’s cap’ ewer in the Xuande period is the blue and white ewer. One notable example is decorated similarly to the present ewer with a Tibetan inscription around the body but in blue and white, excavated in 1983 from the Ming imperial kiln site in Zhushan and is illustrated in Zhang Bai (ed.), Zhongguochutu ciqi quanji—14—Jianxi, Beijing, 2008, p. 170. The other type of blue and white ewer is decorated with a Tibetan inscription around the body, but with a dragon on the neck, replacing the design of Buddhist emblems found on the other ewers with Tibetan inscriptions.

Like in the Yongle period, Xuande examples were also made in monochrome glazes of red and blue, but experimental glazes were also found in excavations from Zhushan. Two unusual examples of celadon ‘monk’s cap’ ewers were excavated, and are illustrated in Liang Sui (ed.), Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming gongyao ciqi, Beijing, 1999, no. 248, and Jingdezhen chutu: Ming Xuande Guanyao ciqi, Taiwan, 1998, p. 124, no. F30. Though misfired and thus likely discarded, they show the range of innovation in ceramic production of the period. The other, perhaps most notable example, are six fragments of a spotted copper, iron and cobalt ‘monk’s cap’ ewer, also excavated from Zhushan and published in Jingdezhen chutu: Ming Xuande guanyao ciqi, Taiwan, 1998, 124, no. F32, where the author notes that this is the only time this technique of combining dots and splashes of iron, copper and cobalt has been seen. No complete example of a spotted ‘monk’s cap’ ewer has been found.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019

Lot 24. A rare white-glazed biscuit 'linglong' bowl, Ming dynasty, 17th century; 3 ½ in. (8.9 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 8,000 - GBP 12,000 (USD 10,376 - USD 15,564). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

The skillfully worked bowl is decorated to the exterior with five medallions enclosing figures in high relief, separated by stylised wan characters in openwork, all between four flower heads with tendrils below the mouth rim and five ruyi-heads to the foot rim. The base has an apocryphal Chenghua mark in underglaze blue.

Property from the Estate of Albert and Leonie Van Daalen, Switzerland.

Provenance: Vrijman Collection, United Kingdom.
With Vanderven Oriental Art, the Netherlands, 24 April 2014.

Note: Bowls of this type were known as 'devils' work', guigong in Chinese, which may be a reference to the ‘devilish’ skills required. Due to the openwork technique, they were also called linglong which can be translated as 'delicate-openwork'. A similarly-decorated bowl with applied figures in high relief can be found in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, illustrated by Christiaan J.A. Jörg in Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The Ming and Qing Dynasties, 1997, p. 47, fig. 28.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019

Lot 52. A rare set of five yellow-ground green-enamelled 'lotus' saucer dishes, Jiajing six-character incised marks and of the period (1522-1566); 3 ½ in. (9 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 20,000 - GBP 30,000 (USD 25,940 - USD 38,910). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

Each dish is delicately potted with rounded sides supported on a short tapered foot, the interior incised and decorated in green enamel with five lotus blooms with auspicious emblems. The exterior is similarly decorated with lotus blooms. The yellow base is incised with a six-character mark in green enamel.

Note: Compare the present lot to a slightly larger Jiajing mark and period dish (12 cm. diam.) in the British Museum, published by Margaret Medley in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1978, p. 25, no. 56. Also see another saucer dish of similar size and bearing the same incised Jiajing mark decorated in green from the Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 April 2016.

From the Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69). A yellow-ground green-enamelled saucer dish, mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566); 9.1 cm, 3 5/8  in., sold for 375,000 HKD (42,334 EUR) at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 April 2016. Photo: Sotheby's.

Cf. my post: A yellow-ground green-enamelled saucer dish, mark and period of Jiajing

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019

Lot 53. A large blue and white 'dragon' jar, Jiajing period (1522-1566); 13 ¼ in. (33.6 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 10,000 - GBP 15,000 (USD 12,970 - USD 19,455). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

The jar is decorated to the exterior in inky tones of cobalt blue with two winged dragons chasing flaming pearls amidst scrolling clouds, above a band of waves, all between a band of Buddhist lions and brocade balls to the shoulder and a stylised lappet band to the foot.

Note: This type of winged dragon is sometimes called a ying long, and sometimes a feiyu. The winged dragon was one of a group of winged or flame-propelled animals associated with the sea - commonly known simply as haishou or sea-creatures - who appear on porcelains of the Ming dynasty. It has been suggested that this was a reflection of China's maritime supremacy in the early Ming period (see L.A. Cort and J. Stuart in Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Washington, DC, 1993, p. 40). This may be so, but in fact these creatures have a much earlier origin in the Shanhaijing or 'Classic of Mountains and Seas', which was a literary work revised by Guo Pu in the Eastern Jin period (AD 317-420), but which regained popularity in the early Ming dynasty. All of the sea-creatures seen on Ming porcelains can be identified from descriptions in the Shanhaijing (see Chen Ching-kuang, 'Sea Creatures on Ming Imperial porcelains', in Rosemary Scott (ed.), The Porcelains of Jingdezhen, London , 1993, pp.101-22). These appear as a group on 15th century imperial porcelain and on those of the Wanli reign. Two of the group appear individually on porcelains of the Jiajing reign - the winged horse and the winged dragon. Compare the decoration of this jar to a very similarly decorated fish basin sold at Christie's London, 9 November 2010, lot 219.

A large and rare blue and white 'winged dragon' fish bowl, Jiajing six-character mark in a line along the rim and of the period (1522-66); 28½ in. (72.5 cm.) diam. Sold for 61,250 GBP at Christie's London, 9 November 2010, lot 219. © Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Stoutly potted with gently rounded sides and flat rim, the exterior finely painted in rich tones of cobalt blue with two winged dragons in pursuit of the flaming pearl, all amidst stylised clouds and above crashing waves at the foot.

Note: This impressive Jiajing fish bowl is remarkable not only for its large size, but also for the fact that it is decorated with winged dragons of the type sometimes called feiyu or flying fish. The Jiajing Emperor was a very demanding patron, and a number of large fish bowl are known from his reign period. However, the majority are somewhat smaller than the current example, as in the case of the fish bowl formerly in the J. M. Hu Collection, which is now in the Shanghai Museum (illustrated in Selected Ceramics from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Hu, Shanghai, 1989, no. 21), and the example illustrated by He Zhengguang, et al., Mingdai taoci daquan, Taibei, 1987, p. 317. A Jiajing fish bowl with dragon decoration, of similar size to the current example, was, however, sold in our New York rooms 21st September, 2004 (lot 242). These very large fish bowls, with their necessarily thick walls and wide mouths were especially difficult to fire successfully. R.L. Hobson in The Wares of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1923, pp. 19 and 110, makes the point that this type of vessel took up to nine days to fire, and the high failure rate was the cause of much distress to the potters at the imperial kilns. It should also be noted that the amount of fuel consumed in nine days of firing would also have added significantly to the cost of these large fish bowls. 

The current fish bowl is particularly rare because of the type of dragon depicted around its sides. Most other Jiajing dragon-decorated fish bowls are painted with five-clawed dragons amongst clouds. On this vessel, however, the dragons have wings instead of forelegs, and fins instead of rear legs. Their tails end in a shape resembling a ruyi, and the creatures, while still being amongst clouds, skim over the top of a turbulent sea. This type of winged dragon is sometimes called a ying long, and sometimes a feiyu. The winged dragon was one of a group of winged or flame-propelled animals associated with the sea - commonly known simply as haishou or sea-creatures - who appear on porcelains of the Ming dynasty. It has been suggested that this was a reflection of China's maritime supremacy in the early Ming period (see L.A. Cort and J. Stuart in Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Washington, DC, 1993, p. 40). This may be so, but in fact these creatures have a much earlier origin in the Shanhaijing or 'Classic of Mountains and Seas', which was a literary work revised by Guo Pu in the Eastern Jin period (AD 317-420), but which regained popularity in the early Ming dynasty. All of the sea-creatures seen on Ming porcelains can be identified from descriptions in the Shanhaijing (see Chen Ching-kuang, 'Sea Creatures on Ming Imperial porcelains', in Rosemary Scott (ed.), The Porcelains of Jingdezhen, London , 1993, pp.101-22). These appear as a group on 15th century imperial porcelain and on those of the Wanli reign. Two of the group appear individually on porcelains of the Jiajing reign - the winged horse and the winged dragon. 

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 5 November 2019

Lot 89. A large blue and white 'dragon'jardinière, Jiajing six-character mark in underglaze blue in a line and of the period (1522-66); 18 ¾ in. (47.6 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 150,000 - GBP 80,000 (USD 64,850 - USD 103,760). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The heavily potted vessel with deep flaring sides is decorated with two sinuous winged dragons in pursuit amongst large lotus heads and buds, interlinked with scrolling tendrils. The rim is encircled by a band of ruyi-shaped clouds. The foot is encircled by a band of stylised lappets stopping just above the unglazed base.

Note: Jardinières from the Jiajing period of similar size and decorated with dragons striding through scrolling lotus are very rare. Compare the present jardinière to another similarly-shaped example with dragon motif sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2016, lot 3318.

Lot 26. A rare blue and white 'boys' dish, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1573-1619); 7 in.(17.8 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 6,000 - GBP 8,000 (USD 7,782 - USD 10,376). © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The dish is decorated to the centre with three boys bathing in a large tub and three further boys playing in a fenced garden beside a pine tree, one fishing with a large rod, all enclosed by two pairs of confronted five-clawed dragons in pursuit of the flaming pearl to the rim. The exterior is decorated within a border of six leafy branches, including pomegranate, persimmon and peaches.

Property from the estate of Albert and Leonie Van Daalen, Switzerland.

Provenance: With Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London, 20 March 2002.

Note: The depiction of children at play is a visually pleasing, auspicious subject matter that was popular in Chinese art during the Ming dynasty. The subject has its roots in Buddhist beliefs, influenced by Daoism, but by the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) had become a secular theme associated with the auspicious wish for sons and grandsons. One boy is depicted holding a lotus stem and this may be a rebus or visual pun. The word for lotus in Chinese is lian which is a homophone for a word meaning continuous or successive, and when combined with a boy suggests the successive birth of sons and grandsons. Another Chinese word for lotus is pronounced he, which sounds like the word for harmony, suggesting that there will be harmony among the sons and grandsons.