Japanese Works of Art

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

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.

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

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

Despite the strict antique ivory rules, Japanese art can still take big sums - as a Norfolk sale demonstrates

Re: ‘Mystery octopus vase holds me in suspense’ (ATG No 2735).

I’m really sorry to hark back to the ridiculous Ivory Act, 2022.

Joan B Mirviss uses Asia Week New York to launch its spring exhibition Six Celestials, featuring works by modern artists who laid the groundwork for contemporary Japanese clay work.

Latest sale of props from renowned company features several surprises such as Spanish revivalist chairs

Following equivalent sales in November 2024 and May 2025, Dore & Rees (25% buyer’s premium) in Frome was again offering Japanese objects at the end of last year from the wider collection of Asian works of art formed over more than half a century by Eva and Aubrey Sweet.

Demand for Japanese works was first hit by the so-called ‘Lost Decade’ that followed the collapse of the Japanese economy in 1991. However, changes in fashion, taste and legislation have also impacted prices.

Vase is thought to be from a group that share a provenance to the 1908 Japan-British Exhibition

A recent sale at Whittons (21% buyer’s premium) in Honiton, Devon, included this Meiji or Taisho (1912-26) vase by the Ando Company.

Norfolk auction house TW Gaze has secured permission to sell an Edo period ivory netsuke in the spring.

A recent sale at Marion Antique Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Marion, Massachusetts included a large Meiji vase by Kanamori Soshichi (1821-92).

Working in Japanese urushi lacquer requires patience. Harvested from the sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree, it is built up slowly, layer by layer, each stage requiring careful drying and polishing under controlled conditions.

When he was not crafting lacquer works, the 18th century Japanese artist Ogawa Haritsu spent his time, painting, creating pottery and composing haiku poems.

The latest sale at Alastair Gibson Auctions in Kent was led by a stellar example of Meiji or Taisho era cloisonné: a pair of imperial presentation vases by Nagoya master Hattori Tadasaburo.