Asian Art

On January 30, as part of Old Masters Week, Sotheby’s New York conducts a sale titled The Pleasure of Objects: The Ian & Carolina Irving Collection.

Mehmet Keskiner is the founder of Kent Antiques specialising in Islamic and Indian works of art as well as 19th century Orientalist paintings. Keskiner runs Kent Antiques from a gallery in Queen’s Gate by appointment only with his brother Dr Philip Bora Keskiner and his wife Melis Aran Keskiner.

The extensive auctions at Schuler (23/20/16% buyer’s premium) in Zürich always contain at least one truly spectacular result and the latest three-day sale was no exception.

A German collector consigned 28 carpets for the November 25 sale at Rippon Boswell (25% buyer’s premium) in Wiesbaden.

While auction prices for works of art from Japan can scarcely compete with those achieved for pieces from China, the sale at Hargesheimer (28% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf on November 30 showed that there is still a healthy market for netsuke.

The Komai family of sword makers and armourers were among the many Japanese metalworkers courting a new clientele during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

An album of watercolour studies of Ottoman ceramics that connects two of the British collectors of the early 20th century raced away from its estimate at Dominic Winter in Gloucestershire.

Sixth instalment of single-owner collection on offer in west London features wonderful workshops

This silver and enamel vase by Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), the great master of Japanese cloisonné, sold to an English collector for £11,000 at Halls (24% buyer’s premium).

In Chinese symbolism, three goats shown together are representative of the New Year, bringing a change of fortune (sanyang kaitai).

Catalogued simply as an ‘ornate Chinese plaque’ and estimated at $600-800, a Qing lacquer and porcelain panel hammered for a remarkable $440,000 (£359,000) at Regency Auction House in Rockaway, New Jersey.

Classical Chinese furniture deaccessioned from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts produced some sensational results at a dedicated Asian Art sale held by Brunk Auctions (23% buyer’s premium) in Asheville, North Carolina on October 19.

Yabu Meizan (1853-1934) is considered the ‘prince’ of the so-called Satsuma medium.

The most eagerly awaited of the five Asian art catalogues offered by Woolley & Wallis was an array of 34 Chinese jades from the Lawrence family collection.

This 18th century Korean eight-panel screen depicts a subject borrowed from Ming prototypes: a banquet honouring the famed Tang dynasty general Guo Ziyi.

A Chinese ‘dragon’ box fashioned in the prized Asian wood zitan sold for £110,000 at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) on November 3.

The Dutch diplomat, musician, writer and sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-67), also known as Gao Luopei, was a great admirer of traditional Chinese literati culture.

The late 19th century Japanese artist Keika Hasegawa remains something of an enigma.