Chinese Works of Art

A Beijing enamel vase from a Scottish country house topped the Asian art sale held ‘behind closed doors’ by Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium).

A Chinese blue and white vase achieved a hammer price of over £3m at an online auction that closed in Singapore last week.

For centuries, China was a rewarding market for European clock and watchmakers who created extravagant timepieces for their Oriental clientele.

As a rule, musical boxes, which were the favoured mode of reproducing music by mechanical means in the salons of Europe and the US during the 19th century, were more or less portable mechanisms.

Among 83 lots of film and entertainment memorabilia offered at Lacy Scott & Knight (20% buyer’s premium) in Bury in St Edmunds was a British quad-size poster for 'Dr No', the first James Bond film starring Sean Connery released in 1962.

The timed sale of Oriental ceramics and works of art to be held by Hotlotz Singapore running until May 3 features a selection of items from the descendants of Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, GCMG, KCVO, KBE, KStJ, who was governor-general of Ceylon from 1954-62.

It is badly damaged, but this large shallow dish offered by Aldridges of Bath (20% buyer’s premium) is an outstanding example of Kangxi mark and period famille verte porcelain.

A cross-section of Asian art – Qing porcelain, Meiji Satsuma and Euro-Asiatic ivories – provided the prizes at Gorringe’s (21% buyer’s premium) spring sale held in Lewes.

This Yongzheng (1722-35) mark and period Eight Immortals bowl sold for £26,000 at the Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) auction in Teddington last month.

Long unseen material from the country home of an ancient English family brought some estimate-demolishing five-figure bids at Morphets (17.5% buyer’s premium) including a genuine sleeper.

Among the most recognisable of all the famille rose porcelain designs produced in China for export to Europe are the so-called ‘Scotsmen’ or ‘Highlander’ plates.

A pair of doucai ‘dragon’ dishes that was entered for sale by a local vendor sold for over 25-times estimate at East Yorkshire saleroom Hawley’s.

This Ming ink and colour on silk painting of Shakyamuni Buddha, offered for sale by Rob Michiels (27.5% buyer’s premium) in Bruges on February 15, is thought to be part of an imperial order made in the short reign of Emperor Jingtai (1449-57).

A remarkable piece of Qing porcelain sold for $270,000 at Pook & Pook in Downington, Pennsylvania.

With an Irish silver ‘seal salver’ gleaming at the first Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (23% buyer’s premium) sale of the year (ATG No 2427), Italy, China and Russia provided other highlights.

Shirley Mueller is a US neuroscientist, author and Asian art collector focused on Chinese export porcelain. Her book 'Inside the Head of a Collector: Neuropsychological Forces at Play' has recently been published.