Lot 457. A pair of archaic bronze square vases and covers, fanghu, Han Dynasty; 32cm (12 1/2in) high. Estimate £2,000 - £3,000. Sold for £12,750 (€ 14,875). © Bonhams

Each with a faceted baluster body raised on a square flared foot, the sides plain, the shoulder with two relief-cast taotie mask handles suspending loose rings, the conical covers applied with stylised bird finials at the corners, the brown and milky-green patina with malachite encrustation.

Note: See a related example illustrated in Da Han Chu Wang: Xuzhou Xihan Chu Wan Lingmu Wenwu Jicui, Xuzhou, 2005, p.186; see another example illustrated by Takayasu Higuchi and Minao Hayashi, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in The Sakamoto Collection, Tokyo, 2002, nos.222–224.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 457. An agate and turquoise-inlaid circular belt fitting, Dian Culture (4th century BC-109 AD); 17.8cm (7in) diam. Estimate £800 - £1,200. Sold for £7,650 (€ 8,925). © Bonhams

Of large circular concave form, the centre inlaid with agate, surrounded by a band of triangles formed of small circular turquoise discs, surrounded by more small turquoise sequins, the reverse with hook, box.

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Winter Exhibition, London, 2008, no.9.

Note: A similar belt fitting was unearthed in burial no.68 at Lijiashan, Jiangchuan County, Yunnan Province, and is now in the Lijiashan Bronze Museum, illustrated in Hunting and Rituals: Treasures from the Ancient Dai Kingdom of Yunnan, Hong Kong, 2004, p.101, no.56.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 462. Two bronze mirrors. Estimate £800 - £1,200. Sold for £2,167 (€ 2,528). © Bonhams

Including a bronze 'TLV' mirror, Han dynasty, the raised central knob enclosed within a square of twelve raised bosses separated by characters representing the twelve branches below the TLV motifs, 14.1cm (5 1/2in) diam.; and a lobed bronze mirror, Tang dynasty, cast with a pair of phoenix and flowers, 16.5cm (6 1/2in) diam.

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Summer Exhibition, London, 2008, no.12 (mirror with phoenixes)
Roger Keverne Ltd., Winter Exhibition, London, 2011, no.4 (TLV mirror).

Note: Compare with a very similar archaic bronze 'TLV' mirror, Eastern Han dynasty, illustrated by J.Rawson & E.Bunker, Ancient Chinese and Ordos Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1990, p.253, no.171.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 463. Three bronze mirrors. Estimate £800 - £1,200. Sold for £2,295 (€ 2,677). © Bonhams

The first crisply cast with with half-circles around the central boss, Han dynasty,13.5cm (5 1/2in) diam.; the second with three shallow coiling chilong in mutual pursuit, 4th-6th century AD,14cm (5 1/2in) diam.; and the third with five shallow-relief flower sprays around a spiralling flower-head within a lobed rim, the rim with an inscription reading 'County Magistrate of Xihe Zheng Yuran', Northern Song dynasty, 18.5cm (7 1/4in) diam.

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Summer Exhibition, London, 2003, no.11 (barbed-rim mirror).

Note: See a related group of four bronze mirrors, Warring States/Tang dynasty, which was sold at Bonhams London, 16 May 2019, lot 1.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Gustave Moreau, The lion and the gnat (detail) © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

Gustave Moreau (1826-98) is one of the most brilliant and influential artists of the French Symbolist movement, and this exhibition reveals some of the most extraordinary works he ever made, unseen in public for over a century.

In collaboration with the Rothschild family and Musée National Gustave Moreau, Paris, the exhibition will reveal 34 watercolours, created by Moreau between 1879 and 1885, for the first time since 1906. They were part of a series commissioned by the art collector Antony Roux to illustrate the 17th-century Fables of Jean de La Fontaine. The works are on loan from a Rothschild family collection.

The watercolours were exhibited to great acclaim in the 1880s - in Paris and in London, where critics frequently compared the artist to Edward Burne-Jones. Moreau made 64 works for the series, 63 of which subsequently entered the collection of Miriam Alexandrine de Rothschild (1884- 1965); however, nearly half were lost during the Nazi era. The surviving works have not been exhibited since 1906 and only a handful has ever been published in colour.

Gustave Moreau, The frogs asking for a king (detail) © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

Created at the height of the French 19th-century revival of watercolour, the variety of subject matter, technique and their colouristic effects will be a revelation to visitors. One early commentator wrote that it was as though their creator ‘was a jeweller before he was a painter and who, drunk on colour, had ground up rubies, sapphires, emeralds, topazes, pearls and mother-ofpearl to make his palette.’

While many of La Fontaine’s fables will be familiar to British audiences from Aesop’s fables, others are derived from traditional European and Asian stories. Moreau’s translation of La Fontaine’s pithy, canonical work into his own, highly distinctive visual language will surprise and delight. There are scenes of comedy, satire and tragedy, and the stylistic range of the watercolours encompasses historicism and the picturesque, Orientalist fantasies and near-abstract chromatic experiments. Visitors will enjoy spotting the influence of earlier artists, among them Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, Delacroix, Gericault and Hokusai. British critics in the 1880s praised the series; one described the works as full of ‘witchery and enchantment’; another commented on Moreau’s ‘keen apprehension of the weird’.

Gustave Moreau, The dream of an inhabitant of Mongolia,c. 1879-85 © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

The Fables watercolours form the core of Waddesdon display, with additional loans from the Musée Gustave Moreau. Preparatory drawings for the Fables will demonstrate the research that informed Moreau’s finished works, from drawings he made after nature to illustrations he found in newspapers – all demonstrating his mastery of materials, including chalk, ink and graphite. A particularly compelling group of drawings depicts animals made in the Jardin des Plantes, including several sheets of monkeys, elephants and lions. Prints after Moreau’s Fables by Félix Bracquemond demonstrate the translation of the jewel-like colours into velvety monochrome in some of the most innovative etchings of the age.

Gustave Moreau, Phoebus and Boreas, c. 1879-85. © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

This exhibition in Waddesdon Manor, the home of the Rothschild Collection, will celebrate wider Rothschild links with Moreau, with the display of two little-known watercolours by the artist, which were acquired by Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934), the father of Miriam Alexandrine, who owned the Fables watercolours, and also of James A. de Rothschild (1878-1957), who inherited a third of his father’s collection and bequeathed Waddesdon to the National Trust.

Gustave Moreau: The Fables is curated by Dr Juliet Carey, Senior Curator Waddesdon Manor. She says “I still remember the excitement of looking at Moreau’s Fables watercolours for the first time, knowing that they had not been seen in public for over a hundred years and I am thrilled that visitors to Waddesdon will experience something similar. It is wonderfully appropriate that this exhibition is happening at Waddesdon, a place with strong links to the artist and a treasure trove of French art. There are few works by Moreau in British public collections, so these superlative examples will be a revelation.”

Gustave Moreau, Jupiter and the Thunderbolts (detail) © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

A version of the exhibition will open at the Musée National Gustave Moreau, Paris, in February 2022.

Marie-Cécile Forest, Director of the Musée Gustave Moreau, says “The MNGM, installed in the artist's own house, possesses more than 25,000 of his works by him. The museum also preserves all the preparatory drawings for the Fables of Jean de La Fontaine, as well as the watercolour Le Paon se plaignant à Junon [The Peacock Complaining to Juno], which was given to the museum in 1936 by Miriam Alexandrine de Rothschild.”

A book by Juliet Carey and published by Paul Holberton will accompany this exhibition.

Gustave Moreau, Discord, 1880 © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

Gustave Moreau, The Cat Transformed into a Woman, c. 1879-85 © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

Gustave Moreau, The Dragon with Several Heads and the Dragon with Several Tails, c. 1879-85 © Private Rothschild Collection/Jean-Yves Lacôte

Lot 466. An archaic bronze ritual tripod wine vessel and cover, houlou, Western Han Dynasty; 25cm (9 7/8in) high. Estimate £800 - £1,200. Sold for £6,375 (€ 7,437). © Bonhams

The vessel of rounded shape supported on three short curling legs, applied to the upper body with a pair of loop fittings linked to a chain handle, the domed cover with two ring handles, the surface encrusted with areas of malachite.

Note: See a similar example illustrated by R.Y.Lefebvre d'Argencé, Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in The Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl.LIX; and see also an example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Yu Kuo-Ching, Rituals Cast in Brilliance: Chinese Bronzes Through the Ages, Taipei, 2014, p.162.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 467. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, bianhu, Han Dynasty; 31cm (12 1/4in) wide. Estimate £2,000 - £3,000. Sold for £7,012 (€ 8,181). © Bonhams

Of flattened oval shape raised on a rectangular hollow base, the sides with grooved bands, and applied with a pair of taotie masks at the shoulders, each suspending loose rings, the domed cover incised with a double mask, the bronze with a mottled dark green patina.

Note: See a related example illustrated by D.Failla, Food for the Ancestors Flowers for the Gods: Transformations of Archaistic Bronzes in China and Japan, Genoa, 2017, no.7.13. See also another example illustrated by Takayasu Higuchi and Minao Hayashi, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in The Sakamoto Collection, Tokyo, 2002, nos.234–240; See also another bianhu, Western Han dynasty, illustrated by J.C.S.Lin, The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China, Cambridge, 2012, no.46, in the collection of Xuzhou Museum.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 468. A rare set of archaic miniature ritual bronze vessel, Han Dynasty. The stove 22cm ( 8 5/8in) long. Estimate £6,000 - £8,000. Sold for £12,112 (€ 14,131). © Bonhams

Comprising a stove, zao, the boat-shaped vessel on four small feet, incorporating a steamer, zeng, two bowls and two spoons; a warming bowl; a footed lamp, decorated with mountains on the spreading foot, with a long curved handle issuing from the shallow bowl; two pear-shaped vases, hu, and covers, one of which of square section; a pear-shaped vase; a footed 'mountain' incense burner and reticulated cover, boshanlu; and a circular tripod food vessel and cover, ding, the vessel with a pair of rectangular upright loop handles, the domed cover with three short handles doubling as feet in the shape of stylised dragons.

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Summer Exhibition, London, 2002, no.11.

Note: It is rare to find such a complete set of ritual vessels. See a bronze set from Tomb 42 at Jinyanggang (Luoyang, Henan Province), in the collection of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, illustrated in Han Dynasty: New Light on Ancient China after 2000 Years, Osaka, 1999, p.70, no.51; and another example in the collection of Museé Cernuschi, Paris, published by C.Deydier, Chinese Bronzes, New York, 1980, p.131, no.100.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 469. An archaic bronze incense burner and cover and a bronze 'ear' cup, Han Dynasty. Estimate £6,000 - £8,000. Sold for £1,912 (€ 2,231). © Bonhams

The incense burner raised on three curling legs terminating in hoof feet, the hemispherical lower body fitted with a curved handle, the hinged openwork domed cover pierced with meandering foliage, 14.7cm (5 3/4in) long; the ear cup, of oval form with deep rounded and slightly flaring sides flanked by two crescent-shaped handles raised on a flat base, the bronze with extensive malachite encrustation, 17cm (6 3/4in) wide.

Provenance: Professor Peter H. Plesch (1918-2013) and Mrs Traudi Plesch OBE (1921-2013), no.B417 (label; the ear cup).

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Roger Keverne Ltd., Winter Exhibition, London, 2006, no.12 (the small bronze incense burner).

Note: Professor Peter Hariolf Plesch, friend and doctor of Albert Einstein, left Frankfurt with his father in 1933. Educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was fascinated by Chinese glass and had the billiard room in his house converted into a private museum. Also a collector of Song ceramics and a long-standing member of the Oriental Ceramic Society, he once lent a ruyao narcissus bowl he purchased from the J.T. Tai Collection to the Society's Song exhibition.

See a related pair of bronze 'ear' cups, illustrated by B.Karlgren and J.Wirgin, Chinese Bronzes: The Natanael Wessén Collection, Stockholm, 1969, pl.46.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 470. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, hu, Han Dynasty; 37cm (14 1/2in) high. Estimate £1,000 - £1,500. Sold for £2,550 (€ 2,975). © Bonhams

The pear-shaped vessel rising from a flaring foot to a waisted neck and flaring mouth, the body encircled by three bands cast in relief, a smiliar band encircling the mouth, the shoulder flanked by a pair of taotie masks suspending loose rings, the round cover with three 'S'-shaped finials, the patina of mottled grey colour with green encrustation

Note: See a similar vessel and cover, Qin dynasty, illustrated by J.Portal, The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army, London, 2007, fig.52. See also an example lacking a cover unearthed in 1994–1995 from the King's tomb at Shizishan, illustrated in Da Han Chu Wang: Xuzhou Xihan Chu Wan Lingmu Wenwu Jicui, Beijing, 2005, p.190.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 471. A rare large archaic bronze tripod basin, Han Dynasty; 28cm (11in) diam. Estimate £1,200 - £1,500. Sold for £2,167 (€ 2,528). © Bonhams

The large basin rising to an everted rim, standing on three standing human supports, a raised band around the vessel cast with a pair of taotie mask handles suspending loose rings.

Note: See a related example illustrated by R-Y.Lefebvre d'Argencé, Bronze Vessels of Ancient China in The Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1977, pl.LVIII; See also another example in the collection of the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Duan Shu'an, Zhongguo Qingtongqi Quanji, Zhongguo Meishu Fenlei Quanji, vol.12, Beijing, 1997, no. 90.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021

Lot 13. Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (940-7), 2015, oil on canvas, 140 × 160 cm. (55 ⅛ × 62 ⅞ in.), signed, numbered and dated '940-7 Richter 2015' on the reverse. Estimate HKD 75,000,000 - 95,000,000 (USD 9,615,385 - 12,179,488). Sold for HKD 95,100,000 (USD 12,192,308). Courtesy Poly Auctions

Provenance: Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2016.

Exhibited: New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Gerhard Richter: Paintings and Drawings, 7 May – 25 June 2016.

Poly Auctions. 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in association with Phillips, Hong Kong, 8 June 2021

Lot 313. A wucai 'landscape' brushpot, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 14.7 cm. Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 HKD. Lot sold: 378,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

Property from a Hong Kong private collection.

Lot 313. A wucai 'landscape' brushpot, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 14.5 cm. Estimate: 50,000 - 80,000 HKD. Lot sold: 69,300 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

Property from a Hong Kong private collection.

Provenance: Hong Kong Auctioneers & Estate Agency, Hong Kong (label). 

Lot 358. A famille-verte'Eight Immortals' dish, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 22 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 HKD. Lot sold: 22,680 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Lot 380. A copper-red 'dragon' jar, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); the base with a tian mark in underglaze blue, wood stand, 13 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 HKD. Lot sold: 378,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

Lot 385. A copper-red 'dragon' jar, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 45.5 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 HKD. Lot sold: 277,200 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

Lot 3101. A Liao dynasty (907-1125) bronze mirror and a parcel-gilt bronze mythical beast-form mirror stand, Yuan-Ming Dynasty (1279-1644). Estimate HKD 40,000 - HKD 60,000. Price Realised HKD 81,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

The mirror is inscribed with Qianqiu
The stand: 12 in. (30.5 cm.) long.
The mirror: 10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) wide.

Provenance: Mirror stand: Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 6 October 2015, lot 185.

Lot 3102.  A  bronze ‘five mountain’ mirror, Warring States period (475-221 BC); 5 7/8 in. (10.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 50,000 - HKD 80,000. Price Realised HKD 106,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, August 1998.

Christie’s. Pavilion Online – Chinese Art, 27 May-11 June 2021

Lot 3103.  A  small bronze ritual wine vessel, zhi, Western Zhou dynasty (1046-771 BC); 5 5/8 in. (14.4 cm.) high, box. Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000. Price Realised HKD 175,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

Provenance: Takeuchi, Kyoto, 1989
The Sze Yuan Tang Collection
Sold at Christie’s New York, 16 September 2010, lot 806.

Exhibited: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 2002-2006.

Christie’s. Pavilion Online – Chinese Art, 27 May-11 June 2021

Lot 3103.  A bronze copper-inlaid wine vessel, bianhu, Western Zhou dynasty (1046-771 BC); 12 3/8 in. (31.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 150,000 - HKD 250,000. Price Realised HKD 437,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, December 1998.

Christie’s. Pavilion Online – Chinese Art, 27 May-11 June 2021

Lot 3105.  A bronze halberd blade, ge, Warring States period (475-221 BC); 14 ¾ in. (12 cm.) wide. Estimate HKD 20,000 - HKD 30,000. Price Realised HKD 125,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, August 1998.

Christie’s. Pavilion Online – Chinese Art, 27 May-11 June 2021

Lot 3106.  A bronze rhinoceros-form water dropper, Six Dynasties (222-589); 4 ¼ in. (11 cm.) long., box. Estimate HKD 30,000 - HKD 50,000. Price Realised HKD 40,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, December 1998.

Christie’s. Pavilion Online – Chinese Art, 27 May-11 June 2021

Lot 3107. A rare small gold and silver-decorated bronze circular mirror, Tang dynasty (618-907); 2 13/16 in. (7.2 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 20,000 - HKD 40,000. Price Realised HKD 81,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021.

The very thin, slightly concave bronze mirror has a tiny loop in the center of a stylized flower-form applique of gold foil outlined and detailed in thin borders and fine gold granulation. The outer field is silver sheet finely chased with mythical birds and animals, including the Dark Warrior, reserved on a finely punched ground. The convex reverse has encrustation.

Provenance: Raymond A. Bidwell (1876-1954) Collection
The Springfield Museums, Springfield, Massachusetts, accessioned in 1962
Sold at Christie’s New York, 22 March 2013, lot 1144.

Christie's. Pavilion Online – Chinese Art, 27 May-11 June 2021

Lot 459. Six pottery models of animals, Northern Wei dynasty & Tang dynasty. The largest 28cm (11in) wide. Estimate £1,200 - £1,500. Sold for £1,275 (€ 1,484). © Bonhams

Comprising a grey pottery model of a donkey, and a painted model of a horse, Northern Wei dynasty; and four models of recumbent cows and a horse, Tang dynasty.

Bonhams. Roger Keverne Ltd Moving On (Part II), London, New Bond Street, 7 Jun 2021