A rare wucaI'Fish' jar, Jiajing mark and period. Photo Sotheby's

the stoutly potted globular body painted in vibrant enamels with a continuous frieze of large and small golden carp swimming amongst aquatic plants, the fish in reddish-orange with fins and scales penciled in iron-red, the lotus blossoms in bright yellow and iron-red with leaves of pale green growing alongside feather and spiky grasses in deep underglaze blue, yellow and green with iron-red and reddish-brown outlines, all beneath clusters of waterweeds and scattered floating blossoms, the plain short neck rising from a collar of brightly enameled bold petal lappets, the base encircled by an underglaze-blue border of overlapping leaf tips, six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle. Height 14 in., 36 cm. Estimation 200,000 — 300,000 USD

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE AUSTRALIAN COLLECTOR

Fish, emblematic of 'freedom from restraint' played an important part in Daoist thought from early on. It is certainly no coincidence that one of the earliest and most important artists working in this genre, Liu Cai, was active during the reign of Emperor Huizong (r. 1101-1125), who was not only one of China’s greatest connoisseurs and patrons of the arts, but also one it is most fervent Daoist rulers. That the Daoist message was intentional already with these paintings is documented by a colophon on a handscroll dated in accordance with 1291 by Zhou Dongqing, entitled The Pleasures of Fish, which reads,

Not being fish, how do we know their happiness?

We can only take an ideal and make it into a painting.

To probe the subtleties of the ordinary,

We must describe the indescribable.

These sentiments were heartily endorsed by the Jiajing emperor (r. 1522-1566) who did not go down in history as a major statesman, nor a particular art lover, but is renowned as a fervent patron of Daoist causes. The aesthetic of the period is replete with Daoist iconography, cranes, sages and fish; as amply and powerfully represented by the present lot.

Similar Jiajing fish jars are preserved, for example, in the Shanghai Museum (two jars, see 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, pls. 3-88 and 3-89) and in a large number of Japanese museum collections, e.g. the Hakutsuru Art Museum, Kobe (a pair); the Hakone Museum of Art; the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo; the Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo; the Fukuoka Art Museum; the Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art; the Matsunaga Kinenkan, Odawara; the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum; and one from the Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo, was sold in our London rooms 9th June 2004, lot 30. Others are illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The Wares of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1923, pl. 26, fig. 1, from the collection of the Comtesse de Beauchamp; one with a 20th century replacement cover made by a renowned Japanese potter was included in the exhibition Two Rare Chinese Porcelain Fish Jars of the 14th and 16th Centuries, Eskenazi, London, 2002, no. 2; two, formerly in the collection of Henry James and later the Harvard Art Museum were sold at Christie’s New York, 19th March 2009, lots 719 and 721; and one was sold in our London rooms 13th June 1989, lot 238 and again 7th December 1993, lot 235. Most recently an example formerly in the Collection of the Idemtisu Museum in Tokyo and sold in our New York rooms 20th March 1976, lot 130 was sold again in our Hong Kong rooms 8th April 2013, lot 3007.

Jiajing wucai fish jars retaining their covers are preserved, for example, in the Palace Museum, Beijing (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 15); the National Museum of China, Beijing (a piece excavated in Chaoyang district, Beijing, see Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan guancang wenwu yanjiu congshu/Studies on the Collections of the National Museum of China. Ciqi juan [Porcelain section]: Mingdai [Ming dynasty], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 84); the Tianjin Municipal Art Museum (Tianjin Shi Yishu Bowuguan cang ci/Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 116); and an example formerly in the collection of Henry Walters and later the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, was recently sold in these rooms, 12th September 2012, lot 262.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com

A wucai double-gourd 'Dragon' vase, 17th century. Photo Sotheby's

the lower bulb decorated with peony flowers amongst scrolling foliage, the upper bulb with two dragons contesting a 'flaming pearl', one enameled in aubergine and the other in green, the base unglazed. Height 17 3/4 in., 45 cm. Estimation 5,000 — 7,000 USD

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com

A small wucai meiping, Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi Period. Photo Sotheby's

painted in vivid colors with a continuous scene of a dignitary standing on a garden terrace between an attendant and a kneeling subject offering a gift, a draped table and armchair behind, all amidst lush foliage. Height 7 1/8 in., 18.2 cm. Estimation 6,000 — 8,000 USD

Provenance: Professor D. R. Laurence Collection, no. 168.
Roy Davids Collection.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com

Exceptionnelle topaze, 9 630 carats et 301 facettes (estimation : 150 000 – 160 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Paris– « Cabinets de curiosités »… L’expression à elle seule suggère des accumulations improbables, des trésors enfouis puis exhumés, ayant traversé les époques et suggérant tour à tour le merveilleux et l’insolite. De tout temps, ces assemblages singuliers ont exercé une réelle fascination sur les amateurs, les artistes et les collectionneurs. Afin de rendre hommage à ce thème, Sotheby’s a réuni pour une vente à Paris le 26 mars, plus de 300 lots d’époques et d’esthétiques variées. Vanités, sculptures médiévales, énigmatiques squelettes d’animaux disparus ou encore oeuvres contemporaines, la maison convie collectionneurs et amateurs à découvrir des pièces incongrues au sein d’un ensemble audacieux.

Jadis symboles de savoir, les cabinets de curiosités prennent leurs lettres de noblesse au début de la Renaissance italienne, dans ce que l’on nomme alors les studioli. Ils avaient vocation à démontrer l’érudition de leur propriétaire et s’imposaient comme des signes de vertu. Vers le XVIe siècle, le cabinet de curiosités se charge d’une dimension sacrée. Peuplé de fragiles vanités, il est le témoin de la puissance divine. Une symbolique qui persiste jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle, période pendant laquelle il tombe quelque-peu en désuétude avant d’être remis au goût du jour au XXe siècle par les Surréalistes, adeptes des cadavres exquis. Le cabinet de curiosités, avec ses étranges associations d’objets, permet en effet de célébrer l’insolite.

Aujourd’hui le concept oscille entre sacré et profane et semble connaître un regain d’intérêt, tant pour certains artistes contemporains, qui se plaisent à le revisiter, que pour les grandes marques. Il orne les vitrines des magasins, des hôtels et des restaurants de luxe et s’invite sur certains accessoires de mode. Actuellement, le sujet fait également l’objet d’une exposition au musée de Poitiers, dotée d’une importante résonnance médiatique : « La licorne et le bézoard. Une histoire des cabinets de curiosités ».

Consciente de l’engouement que rencontrent ces curieux ensembles, Sotheby’s a conçu une vente surprenante qui recèle des oeuvres inattendues. Elle rassemble ainsi un large éventail d’objets, de pièces accessibles, situées à la frontière de l’art et du monde profane, qui auraient eu leur place tant dans les cabinets de curiosités des siècles passés que dans les intérieurs d’amateurs plus contemporains. Collectionneurs ou simples curieux pourront découvrir des vanités du XIXe siècle, les vestiges de créatures disparues, des objets oubliés, mais aussi des oeuvres contemporaines, choisies pour l’impression d’inquiétante étrangeté qui en émanent. Ces dernières vont de l’abstraction gestuelle à la photographie contemporaine, en passant par le Nouveau Réalisme ou l’Art Brut.

Memento mori passés et présents

Fidèle à la tradition des cabinets de curiosités, cette vente propose une sélection de vanités, alliant oeuvres anciennes et contemporaines. Des objets qui rappellent à l’homme le caractère éphémère de son existence et la fragilité de sa condition dans le cours dévastateur du temps. D’une très grande diversité, ces pièces prennent forme à travers de multiples matières : bois, émail, nacre, écaille, corail, ivoire ou encore cristal de roche ; symbole du temps qui passe.

Memento mori. Photo: Sotheby's

Egalement mis en vente, un précieux crâne en argent renfermant une horloge. Celle-ci est dotée d’un chapelet de petits crânes et pourvue d’une clé de remontage (XIXe siècle, estimation 3 500 – 5 000 €). Enfermée dans une cage ancienne en verre, cette vanité rappelle, non sans délicatesse et dans un style gothique et romantique, le funeste destin des hommes.

Cindy Sherman, « Untitled » (estimation : 1 500 – 2 000 €).  Photo: Sotheby's

L’art de la vanité s’invite aussi dans les oeuvres contemporaines, notamment avec ce portrait vertigineux de Cindy Sherman (« Untitled », estimation : 1 500 – 2 000 €). Embrasé d’une lumière incandescente, le visage volontairement vieilli et déformé de l’artiste semble surgir d’un fond ténébreux.

Sonder le monde
Conscience de la mort, mais aussi besoin avide de scruter le monde physique, de le décortiquer pour mieux le comprendre. Telle est l’autre obsession des cabinets de curiosités. Sotheby’s a ainsi rassemblé des objets qui montrent cette quête de connaissance.

Ecorché en bronze, époque XIXe (estimation : 4 000 – 6 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Cet écorché en bronze (qui appartient à un lot de trois bronzes d’époque XIXe, estimation : 4 000 – 6 000 €) de style Renaissance, déploie son impressionnante anatomie sur son socle, divulguant aux regards des curieux les secrets du corps humain.

Mais cette soif de connaissance ne se borne pas au monde terrestre, elle englobe aussi la voûte céleste. Parmi les lots proposés, figurera un télescope de la première moitié du XIXe siècle (hauteur : 33 cm ; estimation : 4 000 – 6 000 €). Cet objet rappelle avec quelle avidité les hommes de toutes les époques se sont évertués à chercher des réponses à leurs questions métaphysiques dans les étoiles.

De drôles d’animaux
La vente compte plusieurs lots d’histoire naturelle, parmi lesquels plusieurs fossiles et une paire d’oeufs d’Aepyornis Maximus. Les collectionneurs pourront en outre admirer un exceptionnel squelette de Moa (hauteur : 140 cm ; estimation : 150 000 – 170 000 €). Cet étrange oiseau condamnéà rester au sol est originaire de Nouvelle-Zélande. Disparu aux alentours de 1400, il était très convoité par les ancêtres des Māori qui raffolaient de sa chair et le chassaient sans relâche. Ce très rare exemplaire est complet à 99 % : les os les plus délicats de l’animal ont su résister aux assauts du temps. Ses pierres d’oesophage, qui lui permettaient de broyer la nourriture, sont restées intactes.

Rare squelette de Moa, Nouvelle-Zélande (estimation : 150 000 – 170 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Dans une veine contemporaine, mais tout aussi énigmatique, citons le portrait pour le moins troublant d’un pélican pris de profil, daté de 1981. Immortalisé en noir et blanc par Bettina Rheims, le majestueux oiseau, qui revêt une allure humaine, lorgne le spectateur du coin de l’oeil (estimation : 2 500 - 3 000 €).

Bettina Rheims, Pélican de profil, 1982 (estimation : 2 500 – 3 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Raretés et merveilles
La vente dévoilera des pièces rares, souvent merveilleuses. La plus flamboyante de toutes est sans doute cette exceptionnelle topaze. De couleur champagne, elle est habillée de 301 facettes qui scintillent à l’infini. Cette pierre délicate représente à elle seule 9 630 carats (estimation : 150 000 -160 000 €).

Exceptionnelle topaze, 9 630 carats et 301 facettes (estimation : 150 000 – 160 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Autre objet, aux consonances mythiques, une belle coupe en ivoire, tourné au profil d’Henri IV et aux armes de France, dont la prise est représentée par une licorne. Des siècles durant, cette créature légendaire a fasciné théologiens, poètes et alchimistes (XIXe siècle, style Renaissance, estimation : 5 000 – 7 000 €).

Belle coupe en ivoire, tourné au profil d’Henri IV et aux armes de France, XIXe siècle, style Renaissance (estimation : 5 000 – 7 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Cette vente est notamment l’occasion de redécouvrir des objets oubliés, qui feront la joie des collectionneurs avertis comme des amateurs. En témoigne ce rare « Claude Glass » (estimation : 4 000 – 6 000 €). Miroir monté sur palette, il permettait aux peintres de capturer les silhouettes des modèles pour mieux les reproduire sur la toile.

« Claude Glass » (estimation : 4 000 – 6 000 €). Photo: Sotheby's

Exposition: Du jeudi 20 au mardi 24 mars, Excepté le dimanche 23 mars

A diamond bib necklace. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014

The front of lattice-work design set with graduated brilliant-cut diamonds to a fancy-link back chain, 43.0cm long. Estimate£15,000 – £20,000 ($25,005 - $33,340)

Christie's. JEWELLERY. 19 March 2014. London, South Kensington - www.christies.com

A diamond collar necklace. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014

Composed of articulated tapered links pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds, 38.0cm long. Estimate£14,000 – £16,000 ($23,338 - $26,672)

Christie's. JEWELLERY. 19 March 2014. London, South Kensington - www.christies.com

A pair of diamond pendent earrings. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014

Each lozenge-shaped diamond drop in a baguette and square-cut diamond surround, to diamond-set reverse palmette and line suspension, post fittings, 5.0cm long. Estimate£8,000 – £10,000 ($13,336 - $16,670)

Christie's. JEWELLERY. 19 March 2014. London, South Kensington - www.christies.com

A copper-red glazed dish, Qianlong seal mark and period. Photo Sotheby's.

with rounded sides rising from a short foot to a flared rim, applied overall with a red glaze leaving the rim and base white, seal mark in underglaze blue. Diameter 8 1/8 in., 20.6 cm. Estimation 15,000 — 20,000 USD

Provenance: Taipei, 1990.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com

A five-spouted teadust-glazed vase, Qing Dynasty, 18th-19th century. Photo Sotheby's.

of compressed globular form with a tall central neck flanked by four additional cylindrical spouts, applied overall in a rich mottled olive-green glaze, the footrim covered with a brown wash. Height 12 7/8 in,. 32.7 cm. Estimation 15,000 — 20,000 USD

Provenance: Hugh M. Moss Ltd, London, 1970s.

An identical vase from the Mottahedeh Collection was sold in these rooms 19th October 2000, lot 53. A similar vase, Qianlong mark and period is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com

Jadeite and diamond pendant, Louis Comfort Tiffany, circa 1910. Photo Sotheby's

The carved jadeite plaque depicting two carp swimming amongst lotus leaves and pods, to a filigree surmount accented with circular-cut diamonds, signed Tiffany. Estimation 4,000 — 6,000 GBP

Litterature: Cf: Clare Phillips 'Bejewelled by Tiffany 1837-1987' Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2006, pages 246-248, for similar examples of platinum and gold filigree work by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Cf: Janet Zapata 'The jewellery and enamels of Louis Comfort Tiffany' page 110 for similar examples of platinum and gold filigree work by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Accompanied by GIA report no. 5151340356 stating that the jadeite jade is natural green colour with no indications of impregnation.

Sotheby's. Fine Jewels. 26 MARS 2014 | 10:00 AM GMT | LONDON - www.sothebys.com

Rectangular 'nécessaire de beauté, by Lacloche, c1925. Images © Goldsmiths’ Hall, London.

Gold, cornelian, enamel, jade and diamonds.

'Nécessaire de beauté', by Cartier, c. 1925. Images © Goldsmiths’ Hall, London.

Made of gold, enamel, jadeite, diamonds and onyx. The lid bears an emerald green jadeite plaque superimposed on a green enamelled panel

'Nécessaire de beauté', signed Janesich, c. 1920–25.Images © Goldsmiths’ Hall, London.

Jade, gold, enamel, platinum and diamonds.

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge‟s Palace. Oil on canvas, 27 ⅜ x 40 ⅛ in. (69.5 x 102 cm.). Estimate: £8-10 million/ $13-16.5 million / €9.5-12 million. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

LONDON.- Christie’s announced that Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge‟s Palace by Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) From The Baron Henri de Rothschild Collection will be offered for the first time in over a century, in the London Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale, on Tuesday 8 July (estimate: £8-10 million/ $13-16.5 million / €9.5-12 million). Executed at the height of Guardi’s maturity and depicting one of the most celebrated prospects of Venice, centering on the Doge’s Palace, the caliber of this work is matched by its exceptional provenance. Originally in the collection of The Earls of Shaftesbury; it was acquired by Baron James-Edouard de Rothschild (1844-1881) and was in turn owned by his daughter Jeanne-Sophie-Henriette, Baronne Léonino (1875-1929) and then by her brother Baron Henri-James-Charles-Nathan de Rothschild (1872-1947), from whom it was inherited by the present owners. Not seen in public since 1954 (Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, La Peinture Vénitienne), this work will go on a global tour starting with a public view at Christie’s in Paris on 3 and 4 March; Moscow on 12 and 13 April (Guardi’s work has long been appreciated in Russia, through works held in the Hermitage collection and in other pre-revolutionary collections, as well as in the Pushkin Museum today); New York from 2 to 6 May; Hong Kong from 22 to 26 May; and London 5 to 8 July. The sale of this canvas provides international private collectors and institutions with a rare opportunity to acquire a work which is considered to be a masterpiece within Guardi’s oeuvre. It is set to become one of the most valuable works by the artist sold at auction. 

Georgina Wilsenach, Head of Old Master & British Paintings at Christie’s London: “We are honoured to present this exquisite view by Francesco Guardi at a moment when appreciation of his art is at an all-time high. Landmark exhibitions of his work in 2012-2013 marked the third centenary of the artist‟s birth, including the highly acclaimed exhibitions at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris and the Museo Correr in Venice. The impressive result Christie‟s achieved for Canaletto‟s view of The Molo, Venice from The Bacino di San Marco in July 2013 (£8,461,875 estimate £4-6million), and the interest that painting garnered from international collectors across all categories, is an indication of the enduring appeal of important vedute. Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge‟s Palace from the Collection of Baron Henri de Rothschild is a testament to Guardi‟s evocative and poetic description of Venice.” 

THE VIEWPOINT AND TIME OF DAY

The viewpoint is in the Bacino di San Marco, roughly midway to the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. From the left, with the eastern bays of the Zecca, Guardi shows the Libreria, designed by Sansovino, with towering behind this the Campanile, the Piazzetta, with the columns of Saint Mark and Saint Theodore, and behind the Torre dell’Orologio and the Basilica of Saint Mark’s, the Doge’s Palace which in Guardi’s time remained the centre of the government of the Venetian Republic, the Ponte della Paglia, and the Carceri, with to the right of this smaller buildings and two palazzo fronting the Riva degli Schiavoni. As the shadows cast by the buildings indicate, the time is late morning. 

Guardi was not the first to paint Venice from the Bacino; one might point to the background of the Tallard Madonna of Giorgione in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford as an early instance. He must have been aware of views by his predecessors, including Vanvitelli, Canaletto and Marieschi. Canaletto, except for views from across the Bacino, preferred to survey the buildings from more oblique angles, as indeed Guardi himself did on other occasions. Guardi, from the outset of his career as a vedutista, understood the potential of experimenting with more frontal viewpoints. He seems first to have painted the subject in a signed canvas in a New York private collection, associable with the group of pictures now known to have been supplied to English visitors in the late 1750s. The New York picture was followed in the 1760s by the great canvas at Waddesdon, in which the composition is extended on the left and more considerably on the right, and taken from a viewpoint across the Bacino. 

Guardi returned to the theme in a sequence of pictures, datable after 1770 that are among the most characteristic productions of his mature phase. These include the masterpiece in the Musée Camondo, Paris, a picture at Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and three of varying scale in the Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, the lighting in which follows that of the New York picture, as is the case with several other smaller variants. In addition to the present painting, only one other smaller canvas at Philadelphia shows the buildings by morning light. In other respects the work to be offered may be seen as a direct development from the design of the New York picture, changing the field of the composition to show only three bays of the Zecca, but adding an additional building on the right. 

THE DATE OF THE WORK

Antonio Morassi, author of the comprehensive catalogue raisonné of Guardi’s work, understood the poetry of the picture, writing of its ‘luce incandescente tinta di rosa e di azzurro e di verde, in una fantasmagoria di colori quasi stravagante’ („Incandescent light tinted with pink, green and blue, in an extravagant array of colors‟). His dating of this work to about 1780 on stylistic grounds derives some circumstantial support from the reference to the Earl of Shaftesbury on a label attached to the stretcher. Anthony Ashley Cooper, 5th Earl of Shaftesbury (1761-1811) is known to have been in Rome in 1782, the date that appears on Batoni’s whole-length portrait formerly at St. Giles’s, and in 1784, when he is recorded at Naples. It seems very probable that he made an extended Grand Tour at this time, and it is highly likely that he visited Venice. Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge‟s Palace by Guardi is not among the 57 lots of pictures sold at Christie’s, 15 May 1852, after the death of his brother and successor, Cropley, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury, father of the celebrated reformer, in the previous year. 

PROVENANCE

Baron James-Edouard de Rothschild (1844-1881) was, like so many members of his family, a distinguished collector. This painting was inherited by his daughter, Jeanne-Sophie-Henriette, Baronne Léonino (1875-1929) and then by her brother, Baron Henri-James-Charles-Nathan de Rothschild (1872-1947), from whom it was inherited by the present owners. 

The ‘gout Rothschild’ was expressed in many fields: where pictures were concerned, the Dutch masters of the ‘Golden Age’ and British portraits, as well inevitably as works by the great French masters of the eighteenth century, were seen as appropriate counterparts to French furniture. Guardi appealed to several members of the family, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild buying the great pair of views now at Waddesdon, in about 1876. 

NEW YORK– The Fine Japanese Works of Art sale on March 19 at Bonhams will feature a variety of elegantly painted screens. The iconic art form, which is both decorative and functional, has been extant in Japan since the 8th century.

A splendid example from the circle of Iwasa Matabei serves as a window to 17th century Japanese culture (est. $100,000-150,000). The six-panel folding screen, embellished with colours, ink, and gold and silver foil, shows fashionable young men and their beautiful female companions enjoying a cherry tree in full bloom in a garden. Iwasa Matabei (1578-1650) has been credited with taking genre painting in a new direction, by concentrating on larger figures engaged in pursuits of pleasure and leisure – the manner of painting here is typical of what came to be known as the Matabei style.

Circle of Iwasa Matabei (17th century) Composing Poetry in a Spring Landscape. Est. $100,000-150,000. Photo: Courtesy of Bonhams. 

A large six-panel screen, ink, color, silver and gold pigment on paper applied with silver and gold foil, gilt metal disk; depicting elegant youths and beauties watching their companion hang a tanzaku poem card on a flowering cherry tree, the blossoms rendered inmoriage and a large gilt metal sun to the far right; unsigned; 67 7/8 x 144 1/2in (167.4 x 367cm). Estimate US$ 100,000 - 150,000 (€72,000 - 110,000)

Iwasa Matabei (1578-1650) has been credited with taking genre painting in a new direction - concentrating on larger figures engaged in pursuits of pleasure and leisure, largely devoid of geographical context.

This spectacular screen shows fashionable young men and their beautiful female companions enjoying a cherry tree in full bloom in a garden. A stylishly-dressed young man reclining on a veranda, holds a long pipe as he gazes upon a gorgeously-clad woman hanging a freshly written poem card from a branch of the tree. Her attendant holds the lacquer tray with the writing brush and ink. Another attractive couple at the right lean on an armrest, and contemplate what to write, the writing set laid out before them.

The emphasis here seems to be on the figures and the activity rather than on the surroundings. The artist has paid specific attention to the contemporary styles, (taking great care to show the unique patterns of each character's robe), and the current fashion trends (the inclusion of the impossibly long pipe suggests the rage for tobacco, recently introduced by the Portuguese around 1601). The figures are large in comparison to the composition.

The painting here is typical of what came to be known as the Matabei style. The figures' faces are somewhat pear-shaped with wide jaws and narrow foreheads and the bodies are supple and long yet corpulent. The cherry blossoms rendered in bold relief (moriage) with subtle gold highlights create a sense of depth and three dimensionality. The lavish gold clouds are also enhanced with geometric shapes raised in moriagetechnique. Extensive use of gold and silver flecks further add to the luxurious atmosphere.

The origins of tanzaku poem cards may be in divination papers used in ancient times or perhaps related to the small rectangular papers that were used in poetry gatherings in the Heian period. The custom of hangingtanzaku from cherry trees became a popular motif in ukiyo-e prints and paintings.

A large six panel screen, ink, color and gold on paper, ofnagare-zakura along a stream, the blossoms defined inmoriage; unsigned;65 x 148 1/2in (165.2 x 377.4cm). Estimate US$ 15,000 - 20,000 (€11,000 - 14,000)

Provenance: purchased Yabumoto Shoichi, 1977.

Other treasures can be found throughout the March 19 sale, which showcases more than 350 fine Japanese pieces, including bronzes, ceramics, woodblock prints, lacquer works, and even Samurai armour. A notable highlight is a large Imperial presentation silver bowl by Hirata Shigemitsu VII (est. $30,000-40,000). This impressive bowl was a commission by the Imperial Household of the Taisho Emperor as a gift for Baron Komura Jutaro. Rounding out the fine selection of Meiji period works are two private collections of cloisonné enamel, metalwork and Satsuma wares.

The Fine Japanese Works of Art sale will take place on March 19 at Bonhams New York. The sale will preview at Bonhams March 14-19.

A jade ceremonial blade (yazhang), Neolithic Period-Erlitou Culture. Photo Sotheby's.

the slightly flaring blade with an asymmetrically curved end with beveled edge, the tang broken, the opaque stone of black color. Length 6 7/8 in., 17.5 cm. Estimation 3,000 — 5,000 USD

Provenance: Collection of Lionel Jacob.
Drouot Left Bank Paris, 14th December 1979, lot 112.
PROPERTY FROM THE SAM AND MYRNA MYERS COLLECTION

Litterature: Filippo Salviati, Radiant Stones: Archaic Chinese Jades, Hong Kong, 2000, cat. no. 40.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM - www.sothebys.com

A jade disc (bi), Neolithic Period, Liangzhu Culture. Photo Sotheby's.

of irregularly circular form with a small central aperture drilled from both sides to form an encircling ridge, the surface with deep gouges, the variegated stone of dark green and russet color with extensive veining. Diameter 8 1/8 in., 20.5 cm. Estimation 35,000 — 45,000 USD

Provenance: Collection of Armand Trampitsch, acquired prior to 1975.
Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 30th May 1985, lot 46.
PROPERTY FROM THE SAM AND MYRNA MYERS COLLECTION

Compare the smaller bi of this type from the Winthrop Collection included in Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Massachusetts, 1975, p. 38, cat. no. 8.

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