Asian Art

The centrepiece of Bonhams’ Japanese offering on May 11 was the second part of the extraordinary collection of netsuke formed by US concert pianist Julius Katchen (1926-69) and his wife Arlette.

Such are the positive reports coming in from the provinces that one begins to fear what the finger-crossing superstitious call the curse of the commentator and the more rational know as the reversion to the mean.

Duke’s of Dorchester posted the top regional Asian art price of the season on May 18 when Wu Guanzhong’s (1919-2010) scroll painting White Birches on Mount Chang Bai (Zhangbai) sold at £500,000 (plus buyer’s premium).

An exhibition of Company School painting takes place at Francesca Galloway’s space in Dover Street from May 22-July 7.

A regular selling show in the summer calendar is Ceramics Mayfair which has been going strong for 11 years and features the combined forces of Jupiter Antiques, Mark and Sandra Diamond and Catherine Hunt.

Symbols of good fortune and longevity in both China and Japan, cranes cast in bronze with incised decoration were simply catalogued as oriental at the April 10 sale held by Edinburgh auction house Thomson Roddick (16% buyer’s premium).

A fine collection of Meiji and 19th century Chinese ivory works of art sold at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) offered a window onto a turbulent market.

A 600-lot sale devoted to Asian art held by Tremont auctions in Newton, Massachusetts, on April 23 will include a 4ft (1.2m) high vase made in the late 19th century.

A piece of Russian porcelain and an Asian painting raised most interest at West Country auctioneers Tamlyns (18% buyer’s premium) on March 8. However, a 13in long (34cm) gouache scroll painting of magpies and prunus was considerably more of a surprise.

Numerous bidders competed for a5½in (14cm) high Japanese incense burner from the Meiji period (1868-1912) at a sale held by Hargesheimer (25% buyer’s premium) in Dusseldorf on March 10-11.

This Japanese rice paper drawing was among a number of lots to draw strong bidding at Dreweatts and Bloomsbury’s (24% buyer’s premium) offering of the Jan Krugier collection.