Asian Art

The July sales of Asian art will be notable for bringing two newly discovered pieces to the market, one in London and the other in Salisbury.

Sotheby's New York (20/12% Buyer's Premium) PRICES have steadily risen in recent years for paintings by India’s most established modern artists notably Maqbool Fida Husain (b.1915) and Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002).

IS this an unusual high-shouldered oviform vase or a jar missing its cover? Was it made in the Qianlong period (1736-95) or does it date to the Emperor Jiaqing’s reign (1796-1820).

Dreweatt Neate (Buyer's premium: 17.5 per cent)SOMETIMES one could be forgiven for thinking that the words ‘Oriental work of art sleeper’, as, for instance, ‘English middle order collapse’ don’t require spaces between them and that, German-style, they are all one word.

A local estate was the source of some fine Meiji ivories sold by Cheshire auctioneers Frank Marshall (15% buyer’s premium) of Knutsford on January 11.

THE future of the United States’ trade in Chinese works of art remains in limbo following a Washington committee hearing to debate a possible ban on imports.

David Lay, Penzance. January 20 & 21. Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent THERE were rather fewer lots than usual at Cornwall but the 720 on offer were true to tradition; a high take up (around 90 per cent), plenty of two- and three-figure bids on collectables and ceramics, standard furniture creeping into four figures, and one lot taking off.

Almost a quarter of a century after it was stolen from its walls, the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery is again appealing for the return of a Japanese woodblock print that once belonged to Vincent van Gogh.

A massive gulf exists between the very best quality Meiji period (1868-1912) works and the rest.

THE last of the four annual selling shows of Japanese woodblock prints at The Japanese Gallery, 66D Kensington Church Street, London W8, is Cats, Birds and Flowers which opened earlier this month and continues until February 28, 2005.

A LEADING figure in the world of heritage is calling for a change in the export licence rules – after the decision to keep a valuable work of art in the UK.

A STUNNING early Ming dynasty dish has equalled the highest price ever paid at auction for a piece of Chinese porcelain.

THE international Asian art community descended on London from November 4-12 to battle for the best quality Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian material the major houses and dealers could muster during Asian Art in London.

POLICE investigating the theft of Tang and Yuan dynasty jewellery and body ornaments from the British Museum on October 29-30 believe the raid could be linked to the theft of Chinese jades from the Victoria and Albert Museum earlier last month.

A COUPLE of exotic sleepers swelled the tally at Lays Auctions (15% buyer's premium) September 23-24 sale which also boasted healthy prices for more home-grown fare such as Troika and Newlyn copper.

FRENCH dealer in Chinese antique stands, Laurence Paul, is currently showing at an antiques fair in Beijing, but she will be back in time for the first monthly Sunday fair of her winter season on October 17 at the Thistle Kensington Palace Hotel, London W8.

HIGH spot of the Asian works of art section of Skinners’ July 17 sale in Boston was an $85,000 (£49,945) bid on a pair of 16th/17th century, cane-seated hardwood ‘Official’s Hat’ chairs from the collection of Professor James Hightower. In a post-sale announcement, Skinners Asian specialist described them as “quintessential examples... and undoubtedly the finest pair of hat chairs to have come on the market in decades”.

AN August 21-22 sale held by Northeast Auctions of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, included not only the panoramic view of Hong Kong seen top right, but a dozen or so other views of the Hongs at Canton, Hong Kong itself and other European trading settlements in China.

MANHATTAN Asian art dealers William Lipton hold a selling exhibition of Chinese furniture, what they term “literati objects” and other Asian works of art at 41 East 57th Street until October 7.

IT IS ten years since well-known dealer Richard Gardner moved into Petworth, West Sussex. Today, even in a town known internationally as one of the most notable concentrations of antiques trading in the South of England, Mr Gardner can certainly be said to have made his mark.