Lot 123. A copper-red-glazed bottle vase, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); Height 20½ in., 52 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 USD. (C) 2020 Sotheby's   

the pear-shaped body rising to a slender neck flaring slightly at the rim, covered with a deep, mottled cherry-red glaze thinning to a greenish-white tone around the lip, deepening to a ruby-red color toward the foot and stopping neatly above the unglazed footring, the base glazed white.   

Sotheby's. Kangxi Porcelain - A Private Collection. Live Auction: 22 September 2020 • 3:00 PM CEST • New York

From Left to Right: A ruby-red overlay beige glass ‘egret and lotus’ snuff bottle. Estimate: HK$80,000-100,000 / US$11,000-13,000 - A carved shadow agate ‘figures’ snuff bottle. Estimate: HK$80,000-100,000 / US$11,000-13,000 - A jadeite ‘phoenix and bamboo’ snuff bottle. Estimate: HK$160,000-300,000 / US$21,000-38,000. © Christie's Images Ltd.

Hong Kong– On 8 October, 2020, Christie’s Hong Kong will host the highly anticipated dedicated themed auction, Chinese Snuff Bottles and Matching Dishes from Private Collections, which will immediately precede the well-established The Pavilion Sale, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art.

Lot 12. Pendentif en forme d’anguille, Chine, Période finale des Shang ou début des Zhou occidentaux, ca 12°– 10° siècles BCE, Néphrite / Jade. L. 11,8 cm. Est: €100 - €200. Courtesy Cornette de Saint-Cyr.

A last Shang period-early Western Zhou dynasty jade eel pendant

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. Arts d’Asie Succession de Madame Anne-Marie Rousset Ensemble d’objets hérités de son oncle Robert Rousset. Jeudi 15 octobre 2020 à 14 heures 30.

Lot 14. Pendentif en forme de ver à soie, Chine, Période finale des Shang ou début des Zhou occidentaux, ca 12°– 10° siècles BCE, Néphrite / Jade. L. 3,5 cm. Est: €600 - €1,000. Courtesy Cornette de Saint-Cyr.

A last Shang period-early Western Zhou dynasty jade silkworm pendant

Rare modèle d’insecte considéré par les spécialistes comme un ver à soie. 

Pour des pièces de même typologie, cf. National Museum of Asian Art Washington / Sackler Gallery n° S2012.3.340, S2012.9.1440

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. Arts d’Asie Succession de Madame Anne-Marie Rousset Ensemble d’objets hérités de son oncle Robert Rousset. Jeudi 15 octobre 2020 à 14 heures 30.

Lot 324. A pair of gilt silver and ruby earrings, erhuan, Ming-early Qing dynasty; 1/2in (1.3cm) diameter of pendant (2). Estimate US$ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 1,700 - 2,500). © Bonhams 2001-2020

The pendant of each earring modeled as a single flower head with a central ruby cabochon set within a roped collar surrounded by realistically rendered flower petals housing granulated balls, the curving flower stem issuing from behind served as the pin.

Note : For additional gold 'flower head' earrings with inlaid precious stones, refer to Adornment for the Body and Soul, Ancient Chinese Ornaments from the Mengdiexuan Collection, Emma C. Bunker and Julia M. White with Jenny F. So (Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong Museum Society, 1999), p. 301, pl. 145， and The Art of the Chinese Goldsmith, The Cheng Xun Tang Collection (Hong Kong: Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University Hong Kong, 2007), Part II, pp. 462-463, no. G65.

Gold earrings with inset gemstone decoration are seen in both the Ming and Qing dynasties. But generally, the earring pins from the Qing dynasty tend to be thinner and more delicate than the bolder and thicker pins shown in the present pair of earrings.

Bonhams. Elegant Embellishments Featuring the RenLu Collection, 21 Sep 2020, 10:00 EDT, New York

Lot 326. A pair of gemstone-inset gold earrings, erhuan, Ming dynasty; 1 1/2in (3.8cm) long excluding pin (2). Estimate US$ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 4,200 - 5,900). © Bonhams 2001-2020

The lavish pendant of each earring modeled with two plum flower heads below a butterfly-shaped design to the front and reverse, and paired by intricate tubes enmeshed with thin wires, each flower head and the butterfly adorned with a central ruby cabochon set within a high collar, the top surmounted with a long, elaborately curved pin rising between a pair of flanking leaves.

Note : Long wire pins and elaborate, layered gold work with sumptuous precious stone inlays are characteristic of Ming dynasty jewelry and was a style favored by the Ming Imperial Family. Similar examples were found in the Mausoleum of Ding Ling according to Zhong Guo (Beijing: 1989), pl. 126.

The combination of a butterfly or a bee and flower blossoms on gemstone-inlaid jewelry belongs to a distinctive motif common during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, called feng die gan hua (bee and butterfly chasing flowers). For more information related to this prototype, refer to Zhongguo Gudai Jinyin Shoushi by Yang Zhishui (Beijing: Gugong, 2014), vol. 2, p612-614.

For detailed treatment and workmanship similar to the present pair of earrings, compare a gemstone-inlaid gold hairpin illustrated in The Golden China, Gold Artifacts of Ancient China, (Nanjing: Nanjing Museum, 2013), p. 330, p. 333, and p.345.

Bonhams. Elegant Embellishments Featuring the RenLu Collection, 21 Sep 2020, 10:00 EDT, New York

Lot 24: Miroir circulaire, Chine, Dynastie des Han occidentaux, 2°-1° siècles BCE. Alliage cuivreux à teneur argent. D. 12,5 cm. Est: €500 - €1,000. Courtesy Cornette de Saint-Cyr.

A Han dynasty bronze mirror.

La prise centrale est traditionnellement disposée au centre d‘un quadrilatère autour duquel sont disposés des représentations d’oiseaux et les classiques motifs de la typologie TLV. On notera toutefois que la barre verticale des T est absente sur cet exemplaire. Suivent ensuite quatre cercles, ornés successivement d’idéogrammes, de hachures et de motifs en dents de scie.

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. Arts d’Asie Succession de Madame Anne-Marie Rousset Ensemble d’objets hérités de son oncle Robert Rousset. Jeudi 15 octobre 2020 à 14 heures 30.

Lot 26: Miroir circulaire, Chine, Dynastie des Han occidentaux, 2°-1° siècles BCE. cuivreux. D. 11,5 cm. Est: €500 - €1,000. Courtesy Cornette de Saint-Cyr.

A Han dynasty bronze mirror.

La prise centrale hémisphérique est entourée de registres striés entourant une bande ornée de quatre éléments circulaires en haut relief séparant des motifs stylisés, probablement des animaux fantastiques.

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. Arts d’Asie Succession de Madame Anne-Marie Rousset Ensemble d’objets hérités de son oncle Robert Rousset. Jeudi 15 octobre 2020 à 14 heures 30.

Lot 106. A rare yellow-ground green-enameled 'cloud scroll' bowl, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); Diameter 5¼ in., 13.3 cm. Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 USD. © 2020 Sotheby's

the gently rounded shallow sides resting on a straight foot and sweeping to a delicately everted rim, the exterior with evenly staggered cruciform cloud scrolls, each finely outlined in slip and picked out in vibrant emerald green, above a border of slip-decorated lappets, all against a translucent egg-yolk yellow ground, the interior and recessed base glazed white, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle. 

Note: Although yellow-ground green-enameled bowls from the Kangxi reign are not uncommon, it is extremely rare to find such a design of cloud scrolls outlined in slip. Finely delineated, the slip detailing presents another technical challenge that the potter has successfully mastered. 

A pair of similar bowls sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 287. Another pair with deeper sides sold in our London rooms, 10th November 2004, lot 667. Compare a similar bowl but with aubergine clouds on a green ground, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 108. See another bowl with deeper sides, enameled with green clouds on a yellow ground but lacking the slip decoration, in the collection of the Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, as shown on their website

Sotheby's. Kangxi Porcelain - A Private Collection. Live Auction: 22 September 2020 • 3:00 PM CEST • New York

Lot 107. A pair of small famille-verte'birthday' dishes, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); Diameter 4⅜ in., 12 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 USD. © 2020 Sotheby's

each thinly potted with shallow sides rising from a short foot ring to a scalloped rim, the center delicately painted with two elegantly attired female attendants, one carrying an archaistic jue on a tray, the other holding a ewer inscribed with a shou character, encircled by a border of iron-red diaper ground reserving florets and four medallions enclosing wan shou wu jian (limitless long life) in seal script, the base inscribed with a six-character mark in underglaze blue (2).

Note: The present pair represents a rare variation of a group of finely potted and painted ‘birthday’ dishes, featuring auspicious themes of longevity, made at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen most likely to commemorate the Kangxi Emperor's sixtieth birthday in 1713. Among this superlative group of wares, dishes of similar diminutive size with foliate rims are exceptionally rare, with no other published examples known. Related dishes depicting pairs of beauties holding offerings, but of larger size and with straight rims, include one in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, illustrated in The Severance and Greta Millikin Collection, Cleveland, 1990, pl. 70; and a second example, formerly in the Elphinstone Collection, now on loan from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art to the British Museum, London, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Enamelled Wares, London, 1973, pl. 890; and a pair in the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Cologne, published in Porzellanschätze der Kangxi-Zeit/ Porcelain Treasures of the Kangxi Period, Hetjens Deutsches Keramikmuseum, Dusseldorf, 2015, pls 7 and 8.

Compare also larger examples of this type with plain rims, one with a similar scene of attendants carrying a ewer and a jue, sold first at Christie's New York, 2nd December 1993, lot 293, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 1st November 1994, lot 63; and another sold in these rooms, 15th September 1999, lot 87.

Sotheby's. Kangxi Porcelain - A Private Collection. Live Auction: 22 September 2020 • 3:00 PM CEST • New York

Lot 109. A rare underglaze-blue and copper-red 'dragon' bottle vase, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); Height 8¾ in., 22.2 cm. Estimate: 12,000 - 16,000 USD. © 2020 Sotheby's

the slender tapering ovoid body surmounted by an elongated columnar neck and lipped rim, the shoulder and lower neck encircled by a lively, sinuous, three-clawed dragon in underglaze blue with copper-red scales, its mouth agape and tail curled, its front and back claws confronting, the base with a four-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Note: The present vase belongs to a small group of Kangxi-marked underglaze-painted bottle vases featuring dragons coiled around the vessel's neck and shoulder, and is exceptionally rare for the four-character reign mark on its base.

For a related vase, compare a bottle vase painted with a similar dragon above underglaze-blue waves around the base, with a six-character mark, sold at Christie's London, 8th November 2011, lot 383. See also two vases formerly in the Richard Bennett and J. Insley Blair Collections, painted in copper-red but with the dragons' eyes pinpointed in underglaze blue, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2012, lots 2116 and 2117. For example with the three-clawed dragon molded in relief and picked out in copper red, see a pair from the Junkunc Collection, sold in these rooms, 12th September 2018, lot 104.

Brayton Ives (1840-1914) was a Civil War general and president of the Northern Pacific Railway and the New York Stock Exchange. Ives was an avid collector of rare books and art, including Chinese porcelain. His impressive collection was sold by the American Art Association in 1891 and 1915, with the latter sale so immense that a "De Luxe" edition of the catalogue was produced.

Sotheby's. Kangxi Porcelain - A Private Collection. Live Auction: 22 September 2020 • 3:00 PM CEST • New York

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), A capriccio ruined building by the coast, with figures. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

CAMBRIDGE.- The Fitzwilliam Museum has acquired three important paintings: two delightfully solemn portraits of young boys by the Dutch artist, Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85), and a vibrantly imaginary Italianate coastal view by the Venetian painter, Francesco Guardi (1712-93).

The paintings have been received from the estate of George Pinto under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which is administered by the Arts Council. It allows for the ownership of works of art to be transferred to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax.

Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, George Pinto (1929-2018) was a merchant banker who served as director of Kleinwort Benson. A passionate and distinguished art collector, he was a life member of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Marlay Group, a patron of the National Gallery and trustee of the Wallace Collection. A generous and engaging individual, he was fondly described by colleagues as ‘an eccentric’. He died aged 89 in a road accident.

Luke Syson, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: 'George Pinto was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, just a stone’s throw from the Fitzwilliam, and he was always a generous supporter of the Fitz through his membership of our Marlay Group. Now, thanks to his life-long connoisseurship, and of course the entirely admirable Acceptance in Lieu Scheme, these lively, delicate works now come to the Fitz for our public to enjoy for generations to come'. 

Born in Haarlem, Adriaen van Ostade was one of the most prolific seventeenth century Dutch painters of peasant scenes, taverns and village fairs. He also painted a number of portraits, including these two unidentified boys. Both were executed in the 1660s, when Ostade had adopted a fine painting technique as practised by the Leiden school of fijnschilders (literally ‘fine painters’), a group of artists who painted their subjects with meticulous attention to detail.

Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade (1610-1685), Portrait of a Boy, three-quarter-length, holding gloves. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade (1610-1685), Portrait of a Boy  three-quarter-length, holding a hat. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

The Fitzwilliam already has two paintings and four drawings by Ostade, as well as a significant collection of over eighty prints, all of which depict his more typical subject matter of jovial peasants. These two portraits, of a kind rarely seen in public collections, will now better represent Ostade’s oeuvre within Cambridge and the UK.

After Canaletto, Francesco Guardi was the most prominent painter of Venetian views in the eighteenth century. From 1770, his brushwork became looser and freer, and he used a lighter colour palette, as seen in this painting.

His views also became less topographically accurate; instead he preferred to paint imaginary architecture in a state of ruin within a picturesque setting. Mostly small in format, these capricci were very popular with Venetian collectors who preferred their sense of invention to topographically exact views of the city. There are four paintings and two drawings by Guardi in the collection; this painting will stand out as the Museum’s finest example of his imaginary subjects.

Lot 111. A rare doucai 'birthday' dish, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); Diameter 8¼ in., 21.1 cm. Estimate: 80,000 - 120,000 USD. © 2020 Sotheby's

the shallow sides resting on a straight foot, the center with a finely enameled peach enclosing a crane in flight, set against a large underglaze-blue shou character, surrounded by interlocking stylized leafing lingzhi stems radiating through the cavetto, framing alternating shou medallions and fruiting peach sprays at the rim, the exterior with three groups of lingzhi and bamboo amid rockwork, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue, inscribed in three columns within a double circle.

Note: Vibrantly painted in the doucai palette, the motifs adorning this dish brim with auspicious meaning indicating it was clearly intended as a birthday gift. During his six-decade-long reign, the Kangxi Emperor had refrained from organizing large birthday celebrations, except on the occasion of his 60th birthday in 1713, and in anticipation of his 70th birthday in 1723. The former was a truly grand national event which lasted weeks and involved numerous processions, performances and banquets, and the latter would have been similarly magnificent had the Emperor not died unexpectedly a few months before. Porcelain wares were produced specifically for these two occasions, and the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen began firing these wares years in advance. Peter Y.K. Lam has recently attempted to identify porcelain produced for these two events and has suggested that dishes of the present type were intended as gifts for the Emperor’s 70th birthday (Peter Y.K. Lam in “Myriad Longevity Without Boundaries. Some Qing Imperial Birthday Ceramics from Hong Kong Collections”, Arts of Asia, October 2010, vol. 40, no. 5, pp 110-111). Lam notes the elongated and slightly rigid style in which the reign mark on these dishes is written and its similarity to Yongzheng period reign marks; thus suggesting that it represents a stylistic transition between the two reigns.

Two closely related dishes from the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, are illustrated in ibid., pls 4 and 5; a dish from the Grandidier Collection, in the Musée Guimet, Paris, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, col. pl. 86; another was sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th May 1989, lot 290, and 30th October 2000, lot 154; and a fifth example was sold in our Paris rooms, 13th June, 2012, lot 174, and again at Christie’s Hong Kong, 4th October 2016, lot 164.

Sotheby's. Kangxi Porcelain - A Private Collection. Live Auction: 22 September 2020 • 3:00 PM CEST • New York

Lot 112. A pair of doucai 'chicken' cups, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); Diameter 2⅜ in., 6.1 cm. Estimate: 80,000 - 120,000 USD. © 2020 Sotheby's

each finely potted, rising from a flat base to gently flaring sides, delicately painted with two scenes of a cockerel and hen with three chicks, divided by sprays of peonies and bamboo amidst rockwork, all between line borders, the recessed base with an apocryphal six-character Chenghua mark in underglaze blue within a double square (2).

Note: This delicate pair of cups are inspired by the famous ‘chicken cups’ of the Chenghua period (1465-1487). Unmatched in their level of craftsmanship, Chenghua porcelain, and in particular enameled wares, were among the most coveted objects of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). They were considered rare and expensive already in the Wanli reign (r. 1572-1620) and their value rose even further during the Kangxi period, as mentioned in several contemporary texts. For example, Liu Tingji (active c. 1700-1725), the deputy assistant of Lang Tingji (1663-1715), the governor of Jiangxi, noted, ‘As for Chenghua… the price of a pair of chicken cups is 100 pieces of gold and they are difficult to purchase’ (see The Emperor’s Broken China. Reconstructing Chenghua Porcelain, Sotheby’s, London, 1995, p. 18). The exceptional rarity and popularity of Chenghua ‘chicken cups’ encouraged their reproduction in the Qing dynasty. During the Kangxi reign, ‘chicken cups’ were made either with Kangxi reign marks or with spurious Chenghua marks, and with designs that closely followed the prototypes. 

Doucai ‘chicken cups’ with spurious Chenghua marks include two in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty II, Beijing, 2016, pls 281 and 282; one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of Ch’eng-hua Porcelain, Taipei, 1976, pl. 30; another from the collection of William and Jennifer Shaw, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th October 1991, lot 203, and again in these rooms, 11th September 2012, lot 41. See also a ‘chicken cup’ with a Kangxi mark and of the period, from the collection of Sir Percival David and now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Stacey Pierson and Rosemary Scott, Flawless Porcelains: Imperial Ceramics from the Reign of the Chenghua Emperor, London, 1995, pl. 40; and a pair from the Edward T. Chow Collection sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 138. 

For the Chenghua prototype of this design see six examples in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the exhibition Chenghua ciqi tezhan/Special Exhibition of Ch’eng-hua Porcelain Ware, 1465-1487, Taipei, 2003, cat. nos 132-7.

Sotheby's. Kangxi Porcelain - A Private Collection. Live Auction: 22 September 2020 • 3:00 PM CEST • New York

James and Marilynn Alsdorf, pictured in Miami in 1950. Photograph courtesy of the consignor

For renowned Chicago collectors and philanthropists James and Marilynn Alsdorf, collecting art represented a unique opportunity for exploration, adventure, and the pursuit of beauty. ‘We looked for objects,’ Marilynn said, ‘to delight our eyes and our souls.’ Over the course of their four-decade marriage, the couple assembled a remarkable collection of artworks and objects spanning all eras and areas of the world.

‘The Alsdorf Collection is an example of cross-category collecting at its finest,’ says Christie’s Chairman of the Americas Marc Porter. ‘It is crowned by masterpieces in the collecting realms of antiquities, works on paper, European and Latin American art, and Indian and Southeast Asian art.’ In addition, some of the biggest names of modern and contemporary art are represented, including René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Joan Miró and Jean Dubuffet, among others.

Selected works from The Alsdorf Collection were offered as part of the 20th Century Week sales in November at Christie’s in New York. A further selection spanning Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, among others, will be offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I and Part II on 24 September.

Two of Chicago’s most important cultural patrons

Married in 1952, James and Marilynn Alsdorf built a life that was centred on art, philanthropy and family. ‘As a couple, my grandparents were the picture of elegance, and they had impeccable taste, but to their family and many friends they were known for their warmth, wit, and humour,’ recalls Bridget Alsdorf, the couple’s granddaughter.

‘Studying and collecting art was their all-consuming passion, and it took them all over the world. Their spirit of adventure was unique; they went places that few collectors at the time were curious and confident enough to explore.’

One such place was India, which they visited for the first time in 1968. It was during this trip that they met former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and French novelist and Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, a close friend of the art dealer Robert Rousset, from whom they had acquired their first work of art in 1955. The Alsdorfs’ love of Indian, Southeast Asian and Himalayan art informed their early collection in the 1960s, at a time when such works were largely undervalued.

As their interests diversified, so did their collection. ‘They were not strategic in their collecting,’ recalls Bridget. ‘They were guided by what fascinated them and gave them pleasure, by knowledge and instinct. They were an incredible team.’

As well as being great collectors, the Alsdorfs were loyal supporters of museums and cultural institutions across Chicago and the wider United States, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago. James Alsdorf served as Chairman of the AIC from 1975 to 1978, and Marilynn sat on various committees.

In 1967, the Alsdorfs joined other prominent Chicago collectors, including, Edwin and Lindy Bergman and Robert and Beatrice Mayer, in founding the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, an institution to which they would provide extensive financial and personal leadership.

After James’s passing in 1990, Marilynn, who was known as ‘the queen of the Chicago arts community’, collected works by René Magritte, Wassily Kandinsky and Frida Kahlo, among others.

She continued to build upon her husband’s legacy in art and philanthropy, making a transformative bequest to the AIC in 1997 (which was celebrated with a landmark exhibition: A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection) and funding a curatorial position in Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the AIC in 2006. That same year, Marilynn was presented with the Joseph R. Shapiro Award from the Smart Museum of Art.

Collection highlights

Asian Art Week in the autumn of 2020 at Christie’s in New York will include works from the collection spanning Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, Furniture & Decorative Art, Japanese Art, Chinese Paintings and Chinese Works of Art.

A rare gilt-bronze figure of Vajrapani, Nepal, Licchavi Period, 9th-10th century. 9½ in (24.1 cm) high. Estimate: $60,000-80,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. ©Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Among the treasures offered in the Sacred and Imperial Part I on 24 September are a rare gilt-bronze figure of Vajrapani dating to the 9th-10th century (above), and a rare and magnificent 11th-century bronze figure of Shiva as Vanquisher of the Three Cities (Shiva Tripuravijaya) from South India (below).

A rare and magnificent bronze figure of Shiva Tripuravijaya, South India, Tamil Nadu, Chola period, early 11th century. 32⅜ in (82.3 cm) high. Estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

During the first century and a half of Chola rule in India (c. 855-1280), representations of Shiva as Vanquisher of the Three Cities, holding a bow in his upraised left hand and an arrow in his lowered right hand, were revered by Chola kings. 

Devotional bronze icons such as the present example were usually worshiped during temple rituals. The power inherent in images of Shiva as a mighty warrior and conqueror was an important symbol for Chola rulers, who were themselves actively seeking to expand their territory.

Another standout work from Part I is a rare larger than life-size marble head of Buddha dating to the Sui dynasty (550-618 AD). This head is more sensitively modeled than those of earlier sculptures of the Buddha and thus less mask-like. 

Lot 809. A very rare and important marble head of Buddha, China, Sui dynasty (AD 550-618). 11¾ in (29.9 cm) high. Estimate: $500,000-700,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The soft, oval face with a serene expression, conveyed by subtly incised arched eyebrows above the large, rounded eyelids of the downcast eyes, and a small chin below the well-delineated mouth set in a subtle smile, with elongated, pendulous earlobes, below the curled hair and ushnisha.

Provenance: The Collection of David David-Weill (1871-1952), Paris, acquired prior to 1925.
Confiscated from the above by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg during the Nazi occupation of Paris and transferred to the Jeu de Paume, 28 June 1943 (ERR inventory no. DW 2492).
Repatriated to France, 4 March 1946, and subsequently restituted to David David-Weill.
Sotheby's London: The D. David-Weill Collection, 29 February 1972, lot 14.
Eskenazi Ltd., London, 12 February 1979.
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Literature: O. Sirèn, Chinese Sculpture, 1925, reprinted 1998, vol. II, pl. 333.

Exhibited: London, Eskenazi Ltd., June 1978, no. 21. 

Like virtually all early Buddhist sculptures of stone and wood, it would have been originally embellished with brightly coloured mineral pigments. 

Other notable highlights include a Qianlong-period (1736-1795) guan-style pear-shaped vase, covered with a greyish-blue glaze suffused with a golden crackle. Made in the Yongzheng (123-1735) and Qianlong periods (1736-1795), this form of vessel was primarily used for holding wine. Also offered is an album of landscapes and calligraphy attributed to the Ming-dynasty painter and poet Zhang Ruitu (1570-1641) from 1625.

Lot 818. A Guan-type Hu-form vase, China, Qianlong six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795). 7¾ in (19.7 cm) high. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Well potted with pear-shaped body tapering to a broad cylindrical neck, flanked by a pair of animal-head handles suspending fixed rings, covered overall with a greyish-blue glaze suffused with a golden crackle, the foot rim covered with a brown dressing.

Provenance: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired prior to 1990.

Part I also features a large bronze figure of Uma, which comes fresh to market for the first time in more than thirty years; and a 15th-century Ming-dynasty gilt-bronze sculpture representing the White-Robed Guanyin, the graceful bodhisattva of compassion. 

Lot 810. A very rare gilt-bronze figure of white-robed Guanyin, China, Ming dynasty, 15th century. 10⅛ in (25.6 cm) high. Estimate: $400,000-600,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part I on 24 September 2020 at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The deity finely cast seated in rajalilasana (royal ease) wearing a long flowing scarf, a beaded necklace, and loose robes that spread gracefully around the figure seated on a mat of leaves that forms the base.

Provenance: Ettington Collection, Jerusalem.
Dr. and Mrs. Otto Schneid Collection, Haifa.
Dr. and Mrs. A. L. Ofseyer Collection, Ontario, Canada.
Sotheby's Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York 5 November 1977, lot 40.
The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago.

Although frequently depicted in Buddhist paintings of the Song (960–1279 AD), Yuan (1279–1368 AD), and Ming (1368–1644 AD) eras, the White-Robed Guanyin was rarely portrayed in sculpture. In the present figure, she is elegantly seated on a mat of leaves, draped in long robes.

Part II spans Chinese Works of Art and paintings, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art, as well as Japanese art and European decorative arts and fine art.

Lot 845. A blue and white ‘Dragon’ dish, China, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735). 7⅛ in (18.2 cm) diam. Estimate: $30,000-50,000. Offered in Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection Part II on 24 September at Christie’s in New York. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Finely decorated in the center with a writhing five-clawed dragon in pursuit of a flaming pearl and on the exterior with a frieze of two striding dragons chasing flaming pearls, all within line borders.

Provenance: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired prior to 1990.

 Lot 16: Pendentif huang en forme d’arc, Chine, Période finale des Shang ou début des Zhou occidentaux, ca 12°– 10° siècles BCE. Néphrite / Jade. L. 9,5 cm. Est: €800 - €1,200. Courtesy Cornette de Saint-Cyr.

Lot 17: Pendentif en forme de dragon, Chine, Époque des Royaumes-Combattants, ca 475 – 221 BCE. Néphrite / Jade. L. 13 cm. Est: €600 - €900. Courtesy Cornette de Saint-Cyr.