Chinese Works of Art

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.

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.

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.

Among the most desirable of the Chinese export porcelain patterns made for the Dutch market is the so-called ‘skating lesson’ design.

A set of 12 Chinese export pictures depicting the manufacture and distribution of porcelain was among the highlights of a recent sale held by Nadeau’s in Windsor, Connecticut.

This imposing pair of 3ft 8in (1.09m) high hexagonal form vases combine both early 19th century Chinese and later 19th century French craftsmanship.

Extensive collection also came with impressive records of purchase such as original dealer invoices

This 18th century hardwood tea caddy, boldly carved in imitation of gnarled rootwood and mounted in white metal, is an Anglo-Chinese production, made for export in Canton (modern-day Guangzhou) c.1780.

Dehua blanc de chine figures of Guanyin – the goddess of compassion, protector of mariners and bringer of sons – often carry the impressed double gourd seal of the great 16th or 17th century ceramicist He Chaozong.

The Ivoire group of auction firms has salerooms across the French regions that regularly hold auctions covering a range of specialist categories as well as more general sales.

Offered for sale as ‘a Chinese porcelain teapot’ with a $100-1000 estimate, a famille rose Buddhist ewer with a Qianlong mark hammered for $200,000 at Hill Auction Gallery (30/28/25% buyer’s premium) in Sunrise, Florida, on October 29. No date or period was given.

The renewed fashion for ancient bronzes during the Qing period reflected a confluence of scholarly interest, artistic expression and political strategy.