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A very rare Ming blue and white ‘deer and rock’ incense holder, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century

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A very rare Ming blue and white ‘deer and rock’ incense holder, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century

Lot 322. A very rare Ming blue and white ‘deer and rock’ incense holder, Ming dynasty, 16th-17th century; 6¾ in. (17 cm) highEstimate USD 80,000 - HKD 120,000. Price realised USD 100,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 8 October 2020


A blue and white ‘elephant’ kendi, Wanli period (1573-1619)

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A blue and white ‘elephant’ kendi, Wanli period (1573-1619)

Lot 323. A blue and white ‘elephant’ kendi, Wanli period (1573-1619); 7 5/8 in. (19.3 cm.) highEstimate USD 20,000 - HKD 30,000. Price realised USD 60,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 8 October 2020

A blue and white square ‘dragon’ box and cover, Wanli six-character mark and of the period (1573-1619)

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A blue and white square ‘dragon’ box and cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double rectangle and of the period (1573-1619)

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Lot 324. A blue and white square ‘dragon’ box and cover, Wanli six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double rectangle and of the period (1573-1619); 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm.) square, Japanese boxEstimate USD 180,000 - HKD 220,000. Price realised USD 187,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 8 October 2020

A pair of blue and white ‘phoenix’ dishes, Wanli six-character marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1573-1620)

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A pair of blue and white ‘phoenix’ dishes, Wanli six-character marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1573-1620)

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Lot 325. A pair of blue and white ‘phoenix’ dishes, Wanli six-character marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1573-1619); 5 3/8 in. (13.8 cm.) diam. (2)Estimate USD 180,000 - HKD 220,000. Price realised USD 187,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020 

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 8 October 2020

A fine blue and white 'floral' barbed charger, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)

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A fine blue and white 'floral' barbed charger, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424)

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Lot 3607. A fine blue and white 'floral' barbed charger, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424); 38 cm, 15 inEstimate: 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 3,528,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

with shallow rounded sides divided into twelve bracket foliations, rising from a short circular tapered foot to a barbed everted rim, superbly painted in shades of cobalt blue with ‘heaping and piling’, the interior with a central peony bloom wreathed by meandering scrolls of lotus, hibiscus, camellia and gardenia, surrounded by detached sprays of peony, chrysanthemum, pomegranate, hibiscus, morning glory and lotus, each repeated twice and paired across the dish, all within a border of scrolling ruyi heads, the exterior similarly painted.

Note: The present dish is a fine example of the technical developments achieved by potters during the early Ming dynasty. One of the most striking decorative innovations of early 15th century wares was the use of separate floral sprays in the cavettos instead of the continuous scroll. The heavy wreath of lotus or peony found on 14th century dishes gave way to a series of delicate and more varied motifs. Two sets of six flower sprays were commonly repeated so that each pair of flowers sat diagonally opposite each other.

A closely related dish in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1982, cat. no. 37; one in the National Museum of China is published in Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of ChinaCiqi juanMingdai [Porcelain section: Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 20; another in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 3:35; and a fourth example, published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 663, was sold in these rooms, 8th April 2013, lot 20. Three further dishes from the Ardabil Shrine in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, are included in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, D.C., 1956, pl. 35; and a dish in the British Museum is shown next to a related pottery copy from Iznik in Turkey in Jessica Rawson, Chinese Ornament. The Lotus and the Dragon, London, 1984, pl. 163. See also a dish of this type in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in Pleasingly Pure and Lustrous: Porcelains from the Yongle Reign of the Ming Dynasty. Guidebook, Taipei, 2017, pp. 70-71. 

Although examples of this exact design have not been recorded from the excavations of the Ming imperial kiln site, similar large dishes of this form, painted with related designs, have come to light in the Yongle stratum of the site; see, for example, the dish included in the exhibition Yongle Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Capital Museum, Beijing, 2007, cat. no. 68.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong

A very rare blue and white 'bajixiang' dish, Mark and period of Chenghua (1465-1487)

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A very rare blue and white 'bajixiang' dish, Mark and period of Chenghua (1465-1487)

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Lot 3610. A very rare blue and white 'bajixiang' dish, Mark and period of Chenghua (1465-1487); 19.1 cm, 7 ½ inEstimate: 800,000 - 1,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 3,150,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the interior centred with the Wheel of the Law supported on a lotus bloom issuing further scrolls encircling the emblems, the cavetto with the remaining seven emblems, each resting on a lotus bloom borne on a continuous scroll, the exterior painted with a frieze of the eight emblems above a floral frieze around the foot, the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Collection of Wu Lai-hsi (c.1870-1950).
Sotheby's London, 26th May 1937, lot 26.
Sydney L. Moss, London, 1938 (£15).
Raymond FA Riesco collection, no. 176.
Christie's Hong Kong, 27th November 2013, lot 3112.

Literature: Riesco Collection of Chinese Ceramics Handlist, Croydon, 1987, p. 11, no. 91.

Note: Chenghua porcelains, considered among the most idiosyncratic and distinct creations of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, are perhaps the most highly sought after of all Chinese imperial porcelains. Their porcelain body and glaze are arguably the finest that have ever been created, imbuing each piece with an outstanding tactile quality, while their unobtrusive yet sophisticated designs are executed in a captivating, complex and yet free and easy painting manner. The present dish is a particularly rare and unusual example of Chenghua ware. There are only three other similar dishes in public museums that appear to have been published. An almost identical dish from the collection of Sir Percival David is now in the British Museum, London, no. PDF,B.627, published in Stacey Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 2004, p. 82, no. B627. Another example is preserved in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi / Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections: A Series of Monographs. Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 4-20. The third example, from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, is in the Seattle Art Museum, no. 51.85.

 

Dish with Buddhist emblems, Ming dynasty, Chenghua mark and period, AD1465–87 (2)

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Dish with Buddhist emblems, Ming dynasty, Chenghua mark and period, AD1465–87. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, 19.2 x 4 cm, PDF B627, British Museum, LondonCopyright SOAS All rights reserved.

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Dish with the eight auspicious Buddhist symbols, late 15th century. Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration, 1 9/16 in. (3.97 cm), height 7 1/2 in. (19 cm), diameter Diam. of bottom: 4 5/8 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 51.85, Seattle Art Museum. Photo: Paul Macapia.

The Chenghua bajixiang dish is also known in another version; similarly decorated on the interior with seven Buddhist Emblems circling the Wheel of Law in the centre, but the exterior painted with lotus sprays instead. Compare a dish in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-Hua Porcelain Ware, Taipei, 2003, cat. no. 24; and another inscribed with a reign mark enclosed within a double square, excavated from the Ming imperial kiln sites at Jingdezhen and exhibited in Imperial Porcelain: Recent Discoveries of Jingdezhen Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1995, cat. no. 120.

The motif and the painting style of the present dish closely follow that of the Xuande reign. During the Chenghua period, Xuande blue and white porcelain were considered to be the finest ever produced and thus served as inspiration. Compare a Xuande blue and white jar similarly painted with a continuous lotus scroll, each of the blooms supporting a Buddhist Emblem, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue and white porcelain in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. 2, pl. 107; and also a bowl and cover, formerly in the collections of Edward T. Chow and T.Y. Chao, sold in these rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 3301.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong 

Lark Mason Associates announces Fall Sale of Asian, Ancient and Ethnographic Works

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NEW YORK, NY.- An impressive array of rare Chinese 18th century cloisonné huanghuali furniture, ancient bronzes and archaic jades headline the Lark Mason Associates’ sale of Asian, Ancient and Ethnographic Works of Art on the iGavelAuctions.com platform.

We’re delighted to offer a broad range of objects and furniture which represent China’s important contribution to the field of decorative arts,” says Lark Mason, who founded iGavel, one of the earliest online auction platforms. “Many of our items are from private collectors who purchased the very best in each of the categories from a variety of international galleries such as C.T. Loo and Sydney L. Moss, Ltd. and from estates of the Christian R. Holmes Collection and Sotheby’s from the 1960s-1990s.

Among the highlights are an 18th century Cloisonné Fangding form censer (Estimate: $5,000-8,000), a pair of Cloisonné Qianlong period vases and basins purchased (Estimate: $5,000-8,000), an important group of Chinese furniture from an American collector–including a huanghuali recessed leg table and a pair of huanghuali horseshoe back with armchairs with estimates from $30,000 to $100,000, a group of archaic Jade and carvings from the Zhou and Huang dynasties (Estimate: $1,500-2,500) and a Chinese Blanc de Chine Porcelain Figure of Guanyin (Estimate: $2,000-4,000).

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Lot 5855316. Chinese CloisonnéFang Ding, 18th Century. Height: 13 1/4 inches. Estimate $5000-8000.

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Lot 5855366. Pair of Large Chinese Cloisonné Basins, c 1736-1795. Diameter: 18 3/8 inches. Estimate $10000-20000.

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Lot 5855355. Ex-Robert Ellsworth Collection. Chinese Huanghuali Recessed Leg Long Table 17th century. Height: 35 inches, Length: 61 1/2 inches,Depth: 17 inches. Estimate $40000-60000.

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Lot 5855356. Ex-Robert Ellsworth Collection. Pair of Chinese Huanghuali and Hardwood Horseshoe-back Armchairs, Qing Dynasty. Height: 36 1/2 inches, Seated Depth: 16 1/2 inches, Length: 22 inchesEstimate $50000-100000.

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Lot 5855325. Chinese Inscribed Jade Blade, Shang Dynasty; 23 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches. Estimate $10000-20000.

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Lot 5855473. Chinese Blanc de Chine Porcelain Figure of Guanyin with Mythical Beast, 18th Century, height: 10 1/8 inches, width at widest: approximately 4 1/8 inches. Estimate $2000-4000

Says Mason, “This sale provides an excellent opportunity for collectors both novice and veteran to purchase some outstanding pieces at accessible estimates.”

In-person viewing is by appointment only at both the New York City and New Braunfels Texas salesrooms.

With locations in New Braunfels, Texas and New York City, Lark Mason Associates, the eponymous, auction house specializing in Asian, ethnographic, and ancient works of art, was founded by Lark Mason after many years as an expert at Sotheby's New York.

Mason served as a General Appraiser from 1979 until 1985, and as a Senior Vice President and specialist in Chinese art with Sotheby's Chinese Works of Art Department from 1985-2003. From 2000-2003 he concurrently was a Director of Online Auctions for Sothebys.com. He also served as a consulting curator at the Trammel and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas, Texas from 2003-2009. He is a generalist in American and European works of art and paintings, as well as an expert in the field of Chinese art and has valued and advised many private collectors and institutions.

Lark Mason Associates regularly hosts auctions on the iGavel Auctions platform and has an established history of record sales of Chinese and other works of art and holds the record for the highest price achieved for any work of art in an online sale, for a painting sold in May 2014 that realized close to $4.2m. Mason, the owner and CEO of iGavel Auctions, is noted for his regular appearances on "The Antiques Road Show."

A blue and white 'dragon' stem bowl, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)

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A blue and white 'dragon' stem bowl, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)

Lot 3614. A blue and white 'dragon' stem bowl, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 11.9 cm, 4 ⅝ in. Estimate: 600,000 - 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 756,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheyby's.

the curved rounded sides rising to a gently flared rim, supported on a splayed hollow stem moulded with horizontal ridges, applied overall save for the unglazed footring with a white glaze, the exterior decorated in cobalt blue with a single long three-clawed dragon chasing a 'flaming pearl' and writhing sinuously around the vessel, the interior centred with a further 'flaming pearl' and encircled by a classic scroll at the rim, further detailed with a moulded design of two dragons around a central rosette medallion.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th April 2017, lot 3673.

Stem bowls with such freely executed sketches of vigorous dragons chasing 'flaming pearls' appear to have been in use throughout China during the Yuan dynasty, although extant examples are rare. Similar stem bowls, decorated both with dragons and with phoenix, were excavated from the Yuan city site at Jininglu in Inner Mongolia, see Chen Yongzhi, ed., Nei Menggu Jininglu gu cheng yizhi chutu ciqi/Porcelain Unearthed from Jininglu Ancient City Site in Inner Mongolia, Beijing, 2004, pl. 46, for a dragon stem cup, pls 42-4, for three stem bowls with phoenix, and p. 12, for several pieces packed together in a jar, as found on site. The same dragon stem bowl was included in the exhibition Yuan qinghua/Blue and White of the Yuan, Capital Museum, Beijing, 2009, cat. no. 107, together with a related piece excavated from a Yuan hoard in Anhui, cat. no. 106. Another example, excavated from the tomb of the eminent Ming official Wang Xingzu, datable to the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), is in the Nanjing Museum, published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 33. A stem bowl in the British Museum, London is published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 1: 24; and two similar stem bowls from the collections of Mrs. O. Harriman and Lord Cunliffe, respectively, were included in the exhibition Chinese Blue and White Porcelain: 14th to 19th Centuries, The Oriental Ceramic Society at The Arts Council Gallery, London, 1953-4, cat. nos 11 and 12.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong 

 


A rare Longquan celadon Guan-type octogonal stem cup, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644)

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A rare Longquan celadon Guan-type octogonal stem cup, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644)

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A rare Longquan celadon Guan-type octogonal stem cup, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644)

Lot 1811. A rare Longquan celadon Guan-type octogonal stem cup, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644); 3 ¼ in. (8.4 cm.) highEstimate: USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. Price realised USD 22,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The cup has flaring, faceted sides supported on a spreading stem foot encircled by a narrow collar, and is covered overall with a clear glaze of pale olive tone suffused with an extensive, icy crackle that thins on the raised areas. Together with a catalogue, Inki: hai, wan, taku tokubetsu tenji (The Special Exhibition of Vessels: Cups, Bowls and Cup Stands), Kuboso Museum, Izumi, 1989, Japanese wood box inscribed by ceramic scholar Fujioka Ryoichi (1909-1991).

Provenance: Private collection, Japan.

Literature: Kuboso Museum, Inki: hai, wan, taku tokubetsu tenji (The Special Exhibition of Vessels: Cups, Bowls and Cup Stands), Izumi, 1989, no. 279.

Exhibited: Izumi, Kuboso Museum, Inki: hai, wan, taku tokubetsu tenji (The Special Exhibition of Vessels: Cups, Bowls and Cup Stands), 1989.

Note: Fujioka Ryoichi (1909-1991) was a prominent Japanese scholar of Chinese ceramics. He worked for the Kyoto National Museum and the Nara National Museum, and participated in compilation of several seminal works on Chinese ceramics including the Toji Taikei, Heibonsha, 1972-1978.

The unusual shape of this rare stem cup is similar to that of a larger (13.3 cm.) Longquan celadon stem cup with molded panels left in the biscuit, illustrated in Splendour of Ancient Chinese Art: Selections from the Collections of T. T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art Worldwide, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 38, where it is dated Yuan.

Guan-type wares produced at the Longquan kilns show considerable variation. Some examples have dark, slate-grey bodies and crackled, greyish-blue glaze while others imitate the cracked glaze and form of Guan but have the light grey stoneware bodies typical of standard Longquan ware. The present stem cup, with its golden-brown glaze, is of a type known as beishoku (‘golden rice grain color’) in Japanese. A rare beishoku Guanyao vase from the Tsuneichi Inoue Collection, dated to the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), was sold at Sotheby’s, London, 13 May 2015, lot 32..

Christie'sImportant Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 25 September 2020New York

Two bronze mirrors, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8)

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Two bronze mirrors, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8)

Two bronze mirrors, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8)

Lot 1522. Two bronze mirrors, Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8); 5 ¾ in. (14.5 cm.) diam., 3 5/8 in. (9.1 cm.) diam. Estimate: USD 3,000 - USD 5,000Price realised USD 2,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The larger mirror is cast with alternating dragons and tigers separated by four small bosses; the smaller mirror with a band of birds perched on scrolls separated by bosses.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1992.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 25 September 2020, New York

A small bronze mirror, Eastern Han dynasty (25-220)

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A small bronze mirror, Eastern Han dynasty (25-220)

Lot 1523. A small bronze mirror, Eastern Han dynasty (25-220); 3 ¾ in. (9 cm.) diam., 3 5/8 in. (9.1 cm.) diam. Estimate: USD 4,000 - USD 6,000Price realised USD 3,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The cental knob is encircled by four seated deities flanked by beasts, all cast in high relief within a band of plain semi-circles alternating with rectangles, each enclosing a character, below an inscription and a band of scrolls on the rim.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1992.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 25 September 2020, New York

Two bronze mirrors, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220)

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Two bronze mirrors, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220)

Lot 1524. Two bronze mirrors, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220); 6 3/8 in. (16 cm.) diam., 6 in. (15.2 cm.) diamEstimate: USD 3,000 - USD 5,000Price realised USD 4,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

One mirror has a central knob that rises from a quatrefoil motif within a square cast in high relief with twelve raised bosses separating the characters of an inscription. The outer field is decorated with a 'TLV' pattern, eight bosses and various celestial animals within narrow bands enclosing an inscription and hatchured lines, all below a dogtooth border and a band of clouds. The other mirror is cast with clusters of bosses and flower-like motifs.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1992.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 25 September 2020, New York

A bronze mirror, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907)

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A bronze mirror, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907)

Lot 1525. A bronze mirror, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907); 7 in. (17.8 cm.) diamEstimate: USD 4,000 - USD 6,000Price realised USD 9,375. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

The mirror is cast with two horned leonine beasts alternating with long-tailed birds, all amidst flowering branches and insects, and within an outer band of clouds on the rim.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1992.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 25 September 2020, New York

Lévy Gorvy opens first major U.S. exhibition in a decade devoted to Michelangelo Pistoletto

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Michelangelo Pistoletto. Color and Light, 2016. Jute, mirrors, and gilded wood frames, Eight parts, each: 70 7/8 x 47 1/4 inches (180 x 120 cm). © Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua.

NEW YORK, NY.- Lévy Gorvy opened a major exhibition of works by the renowned Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto. The first US presentation in a decade to feature multiple installations by Pistoletto, it will take visitors on a journey through one of the most influential and enduring artistic practices to unfold from the postwar period to the present. Lévy Gorvy’s exhibition resonates with the themes that have animated Pistoletto’s body of work for over six decades: perception, time, history, tradition, and the relationship between art, artist, and viewer.

Designed by the artist specifically for the gallery’s New York space, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s exhibition is organized in collaboration with Galleria Continua.

Upon arriving at Lévy Gorvy, visitors to the exhibition will be greeted by an installation inspired by a pairing included in One and One Makes Three, Pistoletto’s 2017 retrospective at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore during the Venice Biennale. Featuring the artist’s signature use of mirrors, the grouping at Lévy Gorvy includes Pistoletto’s historic Viceversa (1971) and the recent Color and Light (2016–17). Together these works create a dynamic, constantly metamorphosing environment and dramatizing the contrast between the fixity of the past and the ever- changing nature of the present.

The mirror tells the truth about everything that exists. Why does it tell the truth? Because it cannot lie. Whatever we see inside the mirror inevitably corresponds to what is happening in front of it. —Michelangelo Pistoletto ii

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Michelangelo Pistoletto, Viceversa, 1971. Mirror, gilded wood frame, and wood easel 98 7/16 x 35 5/8 x 19 11/16 inches (250 x 90.5 x 50 cm)© Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua. Photo: Alessandro Scipioni.

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Michelangelo Pistoletto, La conferenza, 1975. Photographs on aluminum. Twenty-one parts, each: 11 13/16 x 15 3/4 inches (30 x 40 cm)© Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua

The second floor of the exhibition is dominated by a cage-like structure defined by steel bars. Empty and inaccessible to the viewer, this installation is titled with words that are spelled out around its perimeter: The Free Space (1976–2020). The first and only English- language version of Spazio Libero —a work that Pistoletto conceived in 1976 and realized in 1999 with inmates in Milan’s San Vittore prison—The Free Space provokes reflections on freedom, imprisonment, and the real but often hidden boundaries of society.

Spazio Libero is a free space inside a prison—a mental space, a behavioral space, a virtual space that implies the concept of freedom of thought, which is the truest possession of liberty. —Michelangelo Pistolettoiii

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Michelangelo Pistoletto, La Habana, persone in attesa, 2015. Silkscreen on super mirror stainless steel. Four panels, each: 98 7/16 x 49 3/16 inches (250 x 125 cm) Overall: 98 7/16 x 196 7/8 inches (250 x 500 cm). © Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua Photo: Ela Bialkowska.

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Michelangelo Pistoletto, The Free Space. Conceived 1976 / fabricated 2020. Steel, 110 1/4 x 141 3/4 x 141 3/4 inches (280 x 360 x 360 cm) © Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua Photo: Anabel Paris & Jérôme Taub

 The exhibition’s top floor is entirely occupied by Porte Uffizi (1994–2020)—a unique, newly realized version of a seminal installation by Pistoletto, comprised of an open-timber architectural structure of subdivided chambers, each labeled with a single word such as Economy, Science, and Spirituality. Major works by Pistoletto have been installed within each chamber, illustrating Pistoletto’s belief that art should unite with other aspects of society.

If contemporary art led the artist to the greatest freedom, it also led him to the greatest responsibility. —Michelangelo Pistoletto iv

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Michelangelo Pistoletto, Porte Uffizi. Conceived 1995 / fabricated 2020. Black paint and wood. 110 1/4 x 503 1/4 x 263 inches (280 x 1278.3 x 668 cm)© Michelangelo Pistoletto. Courtesy the artist, Lévy Gorvy, and Galleria Continua Photo: Jimena Salvatierra

Working with the artist, Lévy Gorvy will collaborate with Cittadellarte–Fondazione Pistoletto to further his Third Paradise initiative. Embodied by a symbol that Pistoletto uses to signify a balanced connection between artifice and nature, his foundation is devoted to realizing this balance through principles of democratic praxis (Demopraxy) and ecological sustainability. The organization conducts programs globally that build bridges between local communities and organizations, promoting new perspectives of thought and action in an extension of Pistoletto’s abiding commitment to humanist ideals.

Retrospectives of Pistoletto’s work have been exhibited at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2000); and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2010–11). He has exhibited extensively across the world since the 1960s, with one-artist exhibitions held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1966); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (1969); Palazzo Grassi, Venice (1976); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (1969); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1978); P.S.1 Museum, New York (1988); Kunsthalle Bern (1989; traveled to Wiener Secession, 1990); Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome (1990); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (1994); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna (1995); Promotrice delle Belle Arte and Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2000–01); Serpentine Gallery, London (2011); Louvre, Paris (2013); and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (2016–17). In 2017, Pistoletto’s work was featured in One and One Makes Three, a collateral event of the 57th Venice Biennale at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore (2017). Pistoletto toured South America in 2018, with exhibitions at Museo de Arte Contemporaneo , Santiago de Chile; and Museo de Arte Italiano, Lima, Peru; and Circuito Pistoletto as part of BIENALSUR 2019 in Buenos Aire. Pistoletto has participated in thirteen editions of the Venice Biennale and four of Documenta, Kassel.

Among other honors, Pistoletto was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2003. His work can be found in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art; Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, New York; Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo (MAXXI), Rome; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. The artist lives and works in Biella, Italy.

i Michelangelo Pistoletto, “Art’s Responsibility,” 1994
ii Pistoletto, in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, 2018 iii Pistoletto, in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, 2019 iv Pistoletto, in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, 2018

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Installation view, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Lévy Gorvy New York, 2020. © Michelangelo Pistoletto. Photo: Tom Powel Imaging

A rare large blue and white 'flower and butterfly' quatrefoil vase with elephant handles, seal mark and period of Qianlong

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Lot 3601. A rare large blue and white 'flower and butterfly' quatrefoil vase with elephant handles, seal mark and period of Qianlong(1736-1795); 36.3 cm, 14 ¼ inEstimate: 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,773,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

painted on each lobed side with a 'butterfly' medallion encircled by evenly spaced floral scrolls, below floral friezes encircling the rim and neck, the latter flanked by a pair of elephant head handles, all above scrollwork skirting the splayed galleried foot, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

ProvenanceAcquired in Kansai, prior to 1970.

Note: This magnificent large blue and white vase is a rare example which encapsulates the Qianlong Emperor’s interest in antiquity. Modelled on an archaic bronze hu vase, the elephant handles are an exotic innovation. The elephant-head handles continue a design concept developed by the Qianlong Emperor, which was favoured for its auspicious symbolism. The elephant not only represented exoticism, but was also closely associated with Buddhism, and the symbol of peace in Daoism. During the Qianlong reign, real elephants were used in processions when celebrating the Emperor’s birthday, while representing a time for renewal during New Year festivities. For a Qianlong blue and white vase with elephant-head handles, see a smaller vase decorated with elements of the bajixiang in the Wang Xing Lou Collection, included in the exhibition Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, 2004, cat. no. 12, and its companion piece, sold in these rooms, 8th October 2009, lot 1699. The size and complex four-lobed oval form of the current vase is identical to that of a Qianlong celadon-ground famille-rose vase with gilt elephant head’s handles, decorated with panels of flowers of the four seasons, sold in our New York rooms, 20th March 2007, lot 818, and now in the Alan Chuang collection, illustrated in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 108.

For the type of bronze vessel that may have been a model for Qianlong hu-form vases, see a hu vessel from the late Eastern Zhou period, 3rd century BC, illustrated in Jenny So, Eastern Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York, 1995, no. 51. The luxuriant floral scroll and intricately painted bands of decoration on the current hu-form vase include breaking waves, lappets and scrollwork inspired by early-Ming blue and white porcelain. A closely related Qianlong blue and white vase of hu form, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Part I, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 58, was sold in these rooms, 29th November 1977, lot 206, and again, 3rd April 2019, lot 16, from the Tianminlou collection.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong 


A fine and large underglaze-blue and copper-red 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' vase, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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Lot 3602. A fine and large underglaze-blue and copper-red 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' vase, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 48 cm, 18 ⅞ inEstimate: 800,000 - 1,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,773,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

well decorated with a continuous scene of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove with attendants nearby, one figure depicted playing the qin whilst another three are gathered around a game of chess, between finely rendered friezes encircling the waisted neck and splayed foot, all below a further floral scroll band along the rim and painted in underglaze blue with accents picked out in copper red.

Note: This large vase, finely painted with an idyllic scene depicting the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, demonstrates the technical proficiency of the 18th century craftsmen. Not only is the painting on the vessel precisely and meticulously executed with fine details rendered in copper red, the skillful control of the highly unstable copper-red pigment is exceptionally impressive as it could easily run or fire to a much less striking tone during the firing process. The form of the current vase is likely to be modelled on the cylindrical rouleau vases made popular during the Kangxi reign, with the straight outlines of the prototypes replaced with more rounded and generous proportions. The portrayal of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of scholars of the Wei dynasty (220-265) who had renounced their official status and career in protest against corruption, is a popular subject in the 18th century and one that reflects the way in which contemporaneous ideology was heavily steeped in Daoist beliefs and thoughts.

While no identical example depicting the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove appears to be recorded, there are comparable examples similarly decorated with Daoist motifs. See a slightly shorter example with a less bulbous body and decorated with the Three Star Gods, sold in these rooms, 28th November 2019, lot 15, from the collection of Sir Quo-Wei Lee. Compare also two slightly shorter examples with Qianlong seal marks and of the period, the first (46.2 cm) decorated with deer and pine trees from the Wang Xing Lou collection, published in Imperial Perfection. The Palace Porcelain of Three Chinese Emperors, Hong Kong, 2004, pl. 27; and the other (45 cm) painted with the Three Star Gods, from the collection of Ernest Grandidier, now in the Musée Guimet, Paris, no. G 4280.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong

A fine blue and white 'dragon' double-gourd vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795)

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Lot 3604. A fine blue and white 'dragon' double-gourd vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 17.6 cm, 6 ⅞ in. Estimate: 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,260,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

each side of the lower bulb decorated with a central shou roundel between a pair of confronted dragons detailed with long sinuous bodies with elaborate streaming scrolls, below a bat medallion on the upper bulb, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark, wood stand.

Note: The elegant double-gourd form and dynamic design of the present vase are filled with auspicious symbolism. On each side, two sinuous dragons frame a stylised shou (longevity) character, below a bat facing upwards and ruyi-shaped handles. Together they symbolise blessings, longevity and fulfilment of all wishes (fushou ruyi). Vases of this type are held in important museums and private collections worldwide; a vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in Illustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum: Ch’ien-lung and Other Wares, vol. II, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 3; another in the Nanjing Museum, is illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 277; a pair in the Huaihaitang collection, was included in the exhibition Ethereal Elegance. Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2007, cat. no. 107; a single vase and a further pair were sold in our London rooms, 7th November 2012, lot 500, and 6th November 2019, lot 157.

Vases of this form are also known decorated in other palettes; a blue-glazed vase with a combination of auspicious design elements in gilt, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of K’ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch’ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch’ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 78; and a pair of yellow-ground vases with a shou character surrounded by bats, from the collection of Mrs Christian R. Holmes, was sold in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 3024.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong

A rare blue and white hexagonal vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795)

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Lot 3606. A rare blue and white hexagonal vase, seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 44.5 cm, 17 ½ inEstimate: 1,200,000 - 1,800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,512,000HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of hexagonal section, superbly painted in vibrant tones of cobalt blue enhanced by simulated ‘heaping and piling’, decorated around the sides with alternating fruiting and floral sprays issuing pomegranate, peach, peony, chrysanthemum, lychee and lotus growing amidst slender leafy branches, all within ruyi head borders, the waisted neck decorated with stylised foliate scrolls below further ruyi heads and a band of dots, the shoulder with raised bands decorated with keyfret and foliate sprays, the foot encircled by bands of scrollwork, floral sprays, and rolling waves, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark.

Provenance: Christie's London, 13th December 1982, lot 574.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 12th May 1983, lot 181.

NoteThe motif of this finely painted vase derives from early Ming blue and white porcelain. Fruiting and flowering branches first appeared on underglaze-blue porcelain during the Yongle reign, a time when the potters at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen achieved enormous developments in the refinement of materials and expansion of the decorative repertoire. Blue and white vases of meiping form decorated with related fruiting and flowering branches are among the most characteristic products of the Yongle period; for examples, see a vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 30. Even the mottled cobalt ‘heaping and piling’ effect of the 15th-century originals was painstakingly reproduced by the Qing craftsmen in a display of their proficiency over the pigment. Like many other blue and white wares of the early Ming period, this design was reinvented and transformed during the Yongzheng Emperor’s reign before becoming one of the favourites of the Qianlong Emperor. A new life has been breathed into the Qing versions through the hexagonal form and the inclusion of European-style elements such as the scrolls on the neck. The familiar traditional Chinese motifs coupled with the secondary European-style designs not only provide an attractive aesthetic but also firmly celebrate the imperial authority of Qing China.

The Yongzheng prototype, as seen on a vase from the Grandidier collection and now in the Musée Guimet, Paris, is decorated around the neck with stems of flowers divided by European-inspired scrollwork (Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 164). A group of Qianlong examples closely follows the prototype closely, suggesting that they were produced early in the Qianlong period. However, with more generous proportions and stylised scrolls without floral sprays around the neck, the present vase is highly unusual.

For the slightly more common type of Qianlong hexagonal floral vases, see an example in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 212; one published in Selected Masterpieces of the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1975, pl. 102; another, sold twice in these rooms, 30th April 1991, lot 73, and 5th October 2011, lot 1920, included in Sotheby’s Hong Kong – Twenty Years, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 166; a further vase, sold in these rooms, 20th May 1981, lot 764 and illustrated in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 274, fig. 469.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong

An unusual blue and white cup, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722)

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Lot 3606. An unusual blue and white cup, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722); 8.8 cm, 3 ⅜ inEstimate: 150,000 - 200,000 HKD. Lot sold 201,600 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of painted around the exterior above the base with a band of trefoil-shaped sprigs formed from interlinked stems, all above a single line border encircling the top of the foot, the base inscribed with a six-character mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 17th/18th May 1988, lot 189.

Note: A similar pair of cups from the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art is included Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Porcelains Decorated in Underglaze Blue and Copper Red in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1968, p. 42, nos A688 and A689. The former cup is still in the Foundation, but the latter was sold four times in our rooms: twice in London, 15th October 1968, lot 141, and 8th July 1974, lot 306; and twice in Hong Kong, 14th November 1989, lot 74, and 11th April 2008, lot 3053.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong

A fine puce-enamelled blue and white 'Eight Immortals' bowl, seal mark and period of Daoguang (1821-1850)

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Lot 3613. A fine puce-enamelled blue and white 'Eight Immortals' bowl, seal mark and period of Daoguang (1821-1850); 22.1 cm, 8 ⅝ inEstimate: 120,000 - 150,000 HKD. Lot sold 151,200 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

well-potted with rounded sides resting on a tapered foot, the exterior painted in underglaze blue with the Eight Immortals carrying their various attributes, riding on various sea creatures or plants, journeying across a ground of cresting waves in puce enamel, all above a key-fret band, the interior similarly decorated with a central medallion enclosing Shoulao and a deer amongst puce waves below scrolling clouds, all within blue line borders, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark.

ProvenanceSotheby's Hong Kong, 5th April 2017, lot 3706.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, 9 October 2020, Hong Kong

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