Lot 3266. A Longquan celadon relief-decorated tripod censer, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty (1127-1368); 5 ¾ in. (14.7 cm.) diam. Estimate $6,000 – $8,000. Price Realized $6,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The censer is raised on three cabriole legs and is relief-decorated around the deep sides with an undulating, leafy scroll bearing four peony blossoms. The exterior is covered with a glaze of sea-green color that continues over the channeled mouth rim to partially cover the otherwise unglazed interior that has fired to a brick-red color, and also continues onto the underside to surround the central foot ring, gilt-metal openwork cover. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3267. A rare Ge-type mallow-form dish, Yuan-early Ming Dynasty, 13th-15th century; 5 ¾ in. (14.7 cm.) diam. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Price Realized $43,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The dish has gently out-curved sides and subtle ribs on the interior that rise to each notch in the hexalobed, metal band-mounted rim, and is covered overall with a warm, grey glaze suffused with a dense network of black crackle ('iron wire') interspersed with light brown crackle ('golden thread') that falls in a neat line above the neatly cut foot which is covered with a black dressing, box. 

Provenance: Edgar Bromberger Collection; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 3-4 January 1950, lot 120.
Christie's New York, 26 March 2003, lot 232.

Literature: Chinese Ceramics, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1944, B76.

Exhibited: Long term loan: The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, 1940 - 1949.
Chinese Ceramics, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, 1944.

Note: Ge ware, along with Ru ware, Ding ware, Guan ware and Jun ware, is regarded as one of the 'Five Great Wares of the Song dynasty. These wares continued to be not only revered into the Ming and Qing dynasties, but also to be an inspiration.

The shape and glaze of the present dish were clearly inspired by Song dynasty prototypes, and a number of these Song foliate-form dishes, described as having a mallow-petal mouth, are in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 33 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, nos. 83, 84, 85, 90, and 91. Of the illustrated dishes, no. 90 has a metal-mounted rim, but none has as dense a crackle pattern in the glaze as the present dish.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3266. A large black lacquer mallow-form dish, Southern Song dynasty, 13th century; 5 ¾ in. (14.7 cm.) diam. Estimate $12,000 – $18,000. Price Realized $6,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The thin dish has shallow sides that are molded in the shape of seven overlapping mallow petals that flare from the broad center to the petal-lobed rim, and is covered all over in black lacquer, Japanese wood box.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3269. A red lacquer cup stand, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279); 6 ½ in. (16.5 cm.) diam. Estimate $10,000– $12,000. Price Realized $37,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The thin-walled cup stand is made in the shape of a shallow dish centered by a hollow cup holder with rounded, tapering sides positioned above the integral, hollow pedestal foot, and is covered on the exterior with dark red lacquer and on the interior with black lacquer. The rims have narrow metal mounts, Japanese wood box.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3270. A rare bronze goose-form censer, 17th-18th century; 10 7/8 in. (27.7 cm.) long. Estimate $20,000 – $30,000. Price Realized $68,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The censer is made in two sections as a goose standing with its head turned to the side and its mouth open, the curled feathers of the wings and tail well cast. There is an arrangement of four small holes below the tail for the release of incense smoke, and an apocryphal Xuande mark is cast in a line on the breast. The figure is now attached to a marble base.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3271. A magnificent and extremely rare large cloisonné enamel 'dragon' jar and cover, 15th-16th century; 20 7/8 in. (53 cm.) high. Estimate $1,500,000 – $2,500,000 . Price Realized $2,517,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The heavy jar with high shoulder is finely decorated on the body with two ferocious, scaly, red five-clawed dragons striding amidst multi-colored scrolling clouds above cresting green waves and below a petal band, all against a light turquoise-blue ground. The domed cover is decorated with a third five-clawed dragon in red below the spherical finial decorated with radiating stripes of color above upright petal lappets. The base and interiors are gilded.

Provenance: Private collection, Virginia, acquired prior to 1900.

Note: Very few examples of cloisonné enamel jars of this size and design from the Ming dynasty are known. However, an almost identical example is illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz in Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no. 256.

The masterful rendering of the striding dragons, which exude compelling vigor and force, is reminiscent of those on the well-known cloisonné enamel jar from the British Museum, which bears a Xuande reign mark and is enameled with dragons racing amidst scrolling clouds. (Fig. 1) The British Museum jar, which is very similar to another Xuande-marked jar in the Uldry Collection, illustrated op.cit., no. 5, was included in the exhibition, Ming: 50 Years That Changed China, 18 September 2014 - 5 January 2015, London, fig. 65, and one can see the influences of the Xuande jars on the present example, not only in the shape but also the decoration. On the Xuande examples the dragons are executed in yellow rather than the red but the dragons on the current jar retain the full proportions and vivid animation. Hence the present jar represents a continuation of the admiration for early Ming cloisonné enamel wares decorated with powerful Imperial symbols.

A proliferation of Imperial porcelain jars painted with the dragon motif during the Ming dynasty allows for close comparison with the examples produced in cloisonné. Compare, for example, a large Xuande-marked dragon jar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrated by S. Vallenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, illustrated on the frontispiece. The same design would carry through to the later Ming dynasty as can be seen on a blue and white Jiajing-marked jar similarly painted with two five-clawed dragons on the body and further dragons on the domed cover, in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taiwan, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue-and-White ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book V, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 14. It is interesting to note that by the 16th century, the depiction of the dragons became much less standardized, and they are shown with much thinner bodies contorted into snake-like postures, their large heads often appearing cartoon-like with bulging eyes. A blue and white jar of ovoid shape and large size with dragon decoration (66.5 cm.), with a Jiajing mark, is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Japan, 1976, p. 205, no. 212. Also illustrated, no. 211, is a blue and white Jiajing-marked jar decorated with boys at play, where the bud-form finial can be seen to be striped above a band of upright petals like that on the present cover. Another blue and white example of ovoid shape bearing a Jiajing mark in the Qing Court collection, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum - 35 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, no. 96. Jars and covers of related shape with similar dragon decoration are also found in polychrome porcelain, such as the Jiajing-marked jar and cover decorated with yellow dragons above waves on a red ground, from the Ataka Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 14, ibid., p. 79, no. 80.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3272. An unusual painted enamel wine pot and warming bowl, 18th century; 8 ¼ in. (20.8 cm.) high. Estimate $6,000 – $8,000. Price Realized $15,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The wine pot has a pear-shaped body painted on each side with a leaf-shaped panel of antiques above a cylindrical lower section which fits into the globular warming bowl below, which is painted with three leaf-shaped panels, each enclosing flowers and butterflies, all on a bright-yellow ground painted with double-gourd vine between floral borders.

Provenance:  Chait Galleries, New York.
Christie’s New York, 24 January 2005, lot 77.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3273. A very rare and finely painted enamel ruyi scepter, 18th century; 21 ½ in. (54.6 cm.) long. Estimate $25,000 – 35,000. Price Realized $25,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The ruyi-shaped head is finely decorated in the center with an hibiscus spray surrounded by leafy scroll bearing peaches, pomegranates, finger citrons, lingzhi fungus and various flowers. The handle is similarly decorated on the convex top and flat underside, and the narrow sides are decorated with composite foliate scroll, all on a stippled ruby ground within blue borders.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3277. An embroidered midnight-blue silk dragon roundel, 18th century; 10 ¾ in. (27.3 cm.) diam. Estimate $5,000 – 6,000. Price Realized $8,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The roundel is worked in couched gold thread with a leaping, five-clawed, front-facing dragon protecting a flaming pearl amidst flames and ruyi-shaped clouds above crashing waves, all worked in blue, gold, peach, ochre, red, and green silk thread, mounted.

Note: A nearly identical roundel is published by J. E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao Through the Qing dynasty, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, p. 40, no. 15.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3278. An embroidered pale yellow silk dragon roundel, 18th century; 11 ½ in. (29.2 cm.) diam. Estimate $5,000 – 6,000. Price Realized $11,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The roundel is worked in couched gold thread with a leaping, five-clawed, front-facing dragon protecting a flaming pearl amidst flames and ruyi-shaped clouds interspersed with bats and Buddhist emblems above crashing waves, all worked in blue, ochre, green, and red silk thread, mounted.

Note: A nearly identical roundel is published by J.E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao Through the Qing dynasty, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, p. 40, no. 14.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3279. A olive-green brocaded silk satin Buddhist mantle, kesa; the fabric 17th century; 44 1/8 x 79 in. (112.1 x 200.6 cm). Estimate $5,000 – 6,000. Price Realized $30,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The panel incorporates portions of two four-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls, each above two smaller dragons confronting flaming pearls, amidst shou characters and cranes, and separated by white silk braids into seven vertical segmented panels separated by plain narrow strips.

Literature: J. E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao through the Qing Dynasty, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, p. 140, no. 77.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3280. A finely embroidered silk fragment of Amitayus, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century; 13 ½ x 9 in. (34.2 x 27.8 cm). Estimate $10,000 – 12,000. Price Realized $10,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The fragment is finely embroidered in satin stitch with gold-couched outlines with Amitayus seated in dhyanasana on a green base with peach-colored lotus petals and holding the kalasa containing the Elixir of Life. His pale gold-colored body is adorned with yellow scarves encircling his arms and wearing a red and green dhoti, and behind him is a multi-colored aureole from which radiate foliate flames.

Note: An almost identical fragment was sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2007, lot 153, which was also published in J. E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao Through the Qing dynasty, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, p. 122, no. 62.

Also, compare the similar, but slightly larger example on red silk, dated Yuan or early Ming dynasty, in the National Gallery, Prague, depicting a standing Buddha, illustrated by L. Hajek, Chinese Art, London, 1966, p. 228.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3281. A rare imperial untailored gold brocaded silk twill court overcoat, gua, Kangxi period, late 17th century; 53 ¼ in. x 53 ¼ in. (135 cm. x 135 cm). Estimate $250,000 – 350,000 . Price Realized $269,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The yardage is finely worked in colored silk and gold threads with nine five-clawed dragons, with scales picked out in green and blue thread, each confronting a flaming pearl amidst green, blue, and red clouds. The hem is woven with rock formations rising from rolling and crashing waves and ruyi-shaped clouds, all on a bright gold, weft-patterned ground.

Literature: C. Kontler, Arts et Sagesses de la Chine, Milan, 2000, pl. 88 and p. 238.
J. E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao through the Qing dynasty, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, front and back cover, p. 54, no. 23.

Note: The pattern of this impressive front-opening overcoat fabric was woven to shape for a Manchu garment with long tapered sleeves (a single separate sleeve end provides information about the intended sleeve width and length). The fabric is solidly patterned with supplementary wefts brocaded on a twill ground. Brilliantly colored dragons amid clouds above a billowing border of waves crashing against mountain forms are set against a gold ground. While such lavish use of gold threads evokes the tradition of nasij or 'cloth-of gold' robes that were distributed at the Yuan dynasty court as signs of imperial favor, its use by the early Qing court was clearly meant to impress and to overwhelm by underlining the wealth and power of the Manchu court.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 140. A carved jade archer's thumb ring, India, 17th century; 4.6cm. max. Estimate 3,000 — 5,000 GBP. Lot sold 7,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

of pale green jade and characteristic form, carved with a full-face lotus blossom flanked by undulated leafy stems each terminating in a lotus blossom. 

Provenance: Acquired in London in 1984.

Sotheby's. The Sven Gahlin Collection, London, 06 oct. 2015

Lot 26. A bust-length portrait of the Emperor Jahangir, signed by Daulat, Mughal, dated 1627; 7.5 by 5.7cm. Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 GBP. Lot sold 60,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby's

gouache heightened with gold on paper, ruled in red, blue and white, inscribed, signed and dated in nasta’liq script 'amal-i kamtarin bandah-i dargah Daulat’ ('the work of the most insignificant servant of the court, Daulat'), [regnal] 'year 22', in a khatamkari frame. 

Provenance: Acquired in London in 1980.

Exhibited: The Indian Portrait, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2010.

Literature:Beach-Koch-Thackston 1997, p.210 & p.215, under Dawlat (sic) 46, footnote 3, fig.139
Beach-Fischer-Goswamy 2011, pp.308, 316 & 320, fig.11
Crill and Jariwala 2010, pp.74-75, no.13.

Note: This small and exquisite portrait of Jahangir (r.1605-27) is one of a number of portraits of Mughal emperors, predominantly Jahangir and Shah Jahan, that show their head and shoulder at a window. The majority of such portraits were used in the composition of royal album pages, where they were mounted with other thematically related small portraits or separate miniatures (Crill and Jariwala 2010, p.74). Examples can be found in the various royal albums of Shah Jahan and the later-assembled St. Petersburg Album (see, for example, Canby 1998, p.143, no.106, Wright 2008, pp.336-341, nos.48-49, von Hapsburg et al 1996, pls. 21, 24, 25, 28, 29, 227; Okada 1992, p.183, fig.217). The other context in which such portraits appear is within larger scenes of state occasions or performances, where the emperor sits either at a palace window watching an event, or on a raised throne platform within a palace, receiving princes and courtiers. Examples of these appear frequently in the Windsor Padshahnama and in related paintings in albums. For examples of these see Beach, Koch and Thackston 1997, pp.93, 105, nos.37, 43, and pp.219, 222-3, figs.145, 156-158; Canby 1998, p.142, no.105).

Sotheby's. The Sven Gahlin Collection, London, 06 oct. 2015

HONG KONG.- Sotheby's Hong Kong EYE/EAST concluded last Friday with a total of HK$33,788,250 / US$4,357,333, nearly doubling the pre-sale estimate. The cross-category sale was led by An Extremely Rare 'SnowflakeBlue' Incense Burner, Mark and Period of Xuande, which achieved HK$4,375,000 / US$564,200, over five times its presale estimate. Two artist records were set for Chloe Ho’s Midnight Blooms (HK$325,000/ US$41,912) and Chen Yingjie’s Breaking - Loong Series II (HK$93,750/ US$12,090).

Nicolas Chow, Chairman, Sotheby’s Asia, International Head and Chairman, Chinese Works of Art, comments, “The success of EYE/EAST reflects a healthy appetite for quality works. Even without in-room bidding, we were encouraged to witness enthusiastic bidding around the world, with particularly strong interest from Hong Kong and mainland China clients. Sweeping in scope, EYE/EAST is tailored to the current trend of cross-collecting, responding to the diversifying taste of today’s collectors, especially the younger generation. We are pleased with the promising results, which will generate a strong momentum leading up to our Hong Kong Spring Auctions this early July.”

EYE/EAST is a cross-category sale that showcases Eastern aesthetics with works from the Neolithic period to the present day. Compelling and aesthetically engaging, the sale comprises around 240 works encompassing Modern and Contemporary Asian art, Chinese Paintings and Calligraphies, as well as Chinese Works of Art.

LED BY

Lot 5018. An Extremely Rare 'Snowflake-Blue' Incense Burner, Mark and Period of Xuande (1426-1435); 21 cm, 8 1/4  in. Sold for HK$4,375,000 (US$564,200) - Five Times Its Pre-Sale Estimate (HK$800,000 — 1,200,000). Courtesy Sotheby's.

superbly potted with the rounded sides supported on a short straight foot, gently rising to a slightly waisted neck, the exterior covered with a heavily mottled deep cobalt-blue glaze suffused with minute contrasting azure highlights, the interior and the base left white, the latter inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle in underglaze blue.

Provenance: An English private collection.

Lot 5026. An exceptionally rare Guanyao barbed pear-shaped vase, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 15.6 cm, 6 1/8  in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD. Sold for 1,187,500 HKD (140,506 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

the baluster body elegantly rising from a splayed stepped foot to a waisted neck and a gently flared lipped rim, the body divided into six lobes of bracket foliations, covered overall with a greyish blue-green glaze suffused with a dense network of light beige crackles, the unglazed foot rim fired to a reddish-brown colour, Japanese wood box.

Note: This extraordinary vase, modelled with generous proportions marked by well-defined barbed outlines, is an extremely rare embodiment of the ideals of Song (960-1279) court aesthetics in its understated simplicity that veils the depth of expertise and skill required in creating such a vessel. The grey body that has fired a dark purplish brown along the unglazed footring and is vaguely perceptible where the soft crackled grey-green glaze thins is characteristic of Southern Song guanyao ware.

Lot 5061. A large white-glazed anhua-decorated 'phoenix' bowl, Mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566); 30 cm, 11 7/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Sold for 725,000 HKD (85,782 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

well potted, the rounded sides gently rising from a straight foot to a flaring rim, the interior centre incised with a pair of confronting phoenix, the exterior similarly decorated with two phoenix flying among scrolling clouds, above a ring of radiating lotus petal lappets, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Provenance: An English private collection.

Note:This bowl is rare for its large size and anhua decoration of phoenix. A closely related bowl was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 61. Compare also a smaller bowl from the Hellner Collection, illustrated in Leopold Reidemeister, Ming Porzellane in Swedischen Sammlungen, Berlin, 1935, pl. 34b; and another sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 154. Bowls of this size but engraved with dragons are also known; see one sold in these rooms, 26th November 1976, lot 460; and another from the E.T. Hall collection sold at Christie's London, 7th June 2004, lot 52.

Lot 5022. A finely modelled painted pottery figure of an ox, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534); 19.5 cm, 7 5/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Sold for 437,500 HKD (51,765 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

delicately and dynamically modelled, depicted sturdily standing on a trapezoid base with the right hoofed foreleg raised as though walking while ploughing, the animal portrayed with the head held high, accentuated with well-defined features including a pair of curved tapering horns above a pair of projecting ears, and further rendered bound by a halter composed of straps and roundels, all above a pronounced dewlap echoing the subtle muscular contours of the beast, the grey surface with traces of red and white pigments.

Provenance: The Norman A. Kurland Collection.
Eskenazi Ltd, London, 2017.

Exhibited: Six Dynasties Art from the Norman A. Kurland Collection Part One, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 2017, cat. no. 18.

Note: This powerfully and sensitively modelled figure of an ox embodies the qualities for which they were revered in Chinese culture: strength, endurance and patience. Traditionally associated with agriculture, during the Six Dynasties period the ox-drawn cart began to replace the horse-drawn chariot as a form of transport for the elite. Pottery models of oxen attest to this, as do images on the sides of stone sarcophagi, such as that found on a Northern Wei tomb at Zhijiabao, Datong, Shanxi, illustrated in Shi Jinming, 'The Northern Dynasties and Major Archaeological Discoveries', Willow Weilan Hai, Annette L. Juliano et al, Art in a Time of Chaos, Masterworks from Six Dynasties China 3rd – 6th Centuries, New York, 2016, pp. 74-5.

Lot 5006. A rare yellow jade cong, Neolithic period, probably Qijia Culture (2200 BC – 1600 BC); 12.7 cm, 5  in. Estimate 200,000 — 250,000 HKD. Sold for 375,000 HKD (44,370 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

of square section, pierced through the center with a cylindrical tube extending at either end to a short neck and foot, the stone of a variegated celadon and brown colour, wood stand.

Provenance: The Huai Qin Ge Collection, acquired during the 1960s to 1980s.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st June 2017, lot 354.

Exhibited: Six Dynasties Art from the Norman A. Kurland Collection Part One, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 2017, cat. no. 18.

Note: The Huai Qin Ge collection was assembled by Lui Shu Ying (1919-2000) from when the Lui family took refuge in the small French enclave of Guangzhouwan on the Southern coast of China during the World War II before it was eventually receded to China in 1946. During this period of instability in Guangzhouwan, Mr Lui met other young professionals, with whom he would remain friends and later form a collector's club and fraternity in Hong Kong called 'Yau Hoi' from the late 1950s. The members of the fraternity regularly met to discuss art and other matters, echoing the scholars' gatherings at the Orchid Pavilion, and cultivated together an interest in collecting paintings, calligraphy and archaic jades – as well as the gardening of bonsai. 

See two other archaic jades, also formerly from the Huai Qin Ge collection, offered in this sale, lots 5010 and 5021.