Asian Art

This Indo-Portuguese ivory inlaid rosewood side table had last been sold in 1950 when it was bought by the ceramicist Eric James Mellon (1925-2014) while an art student in London.

Focus on a dedicated auction in Sussex that dispersed the single-owner collection of an Anglo-Norwegian who became fascinated by combat in the Far East

ATG was interested to learn more about the two Kangxi (1662-1722) blue and white porcelain wall sconces and ‘soap dish’ sold by Mayfair firm Plakas (29% buyer’s premium) on March 19.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s Asian Art Week was led by the earliest extant court painting by the Italian Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766).

While May’s series of UK Asian art auctions lacks the overall focus of the Asian Art in London initiative in the autumn or the pomp of other spring events in New York or Hong Kong, it remains a key moment in the calendar.

The group of Chinese ‘export’ silver offered by Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes on April 21 came by descent from Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland (1874-1967), an Oxford graduate from Exeter who joined the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1898.

As a dealer, collector and enthusiast of ethnographic art, Gordon Reece spent a lifetime travelling the globe in search of artefacts.

An auction titled China 500 Years held by Mayfair orientalist firm Plakas (29% buyer’s premium) on March 19 included elements of two rare Kangxi (1662-1722) blue and white porcelain wall sconces. They were estimated at £2000-3000 but contested to £17,000.

Produced in Ottoman Turkey between the 15th and 17th centuries, Iznik pottery experienced a sudden and passionate surge of Western interest in the mid 19th century.

Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was known as a monumental collector.

Single-owner collection reflects both the port’s position linking trade routes and the artisans it attracted

The March 3-4 sale at Chorley’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire, was topped by a good example of Qing imperial needlework: a yellow ground silk and metal thread cushion cover.