Chinese Works of Art

Ahead of a threatened import tax, overseas consignments of Chinese art were among the best sellers in the September Asian art sales in New York.

This pair of Qing vases caught the eye of Hertfordshire auctioneer Richard Kluk when valuing jewellery at a London home.

A pair of Kangxi double gourd porcelain vases available at TEFAF New York Fall typify not only the quality on offer at the event but are also testament to its cross-cultural nature.

From antiquities to Chinese works of art and 20th century European sculpture, a sale in Maine showcases America’s rich supply of European and Asian art.

A leading US culture lawyer has testified at Washington, DC trade hearings about how a Chinese art import tariff would have a negative effect on small and medium-sized US dealers.

Topping two days of steady selling and 750 wide-ranging lots at Leominster saleroom Brightwells’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) summer auction was a Republic period cong-form vase in the style of the renowned Qianjiang School artist Wang Yeting.

The pair to the famous ‘Bain bridge vase’ – knocked down at £43m in 2010 but later sold for half that sum – has come to market. Sotheby’s will sell the near identical vase, that has a century-long provenance, in Hong Kong in the autumn

William Martindale holds an exhibition with textile specialist Jacqueline Simcox at Stoppenbach and Delestre during Asian Art in London (November 1-10).

Dealers and auctioneers in the US and UK are mobilising in the hope of removing works of art from the thousands of items caught up in the escalating US-China trade war.

The US-China trade war, previously the stuff of new technology, heavy industry and agribusiness, has now opened a new front: cultural heritage. The threat of a 25% tariff on imported Chinese art and antiques will soon be discussed in Washington, DC.

It’s a rare sale these days at which an English furniture standard challenges quality Chinese pieces for price, but the top end of the trade certainly rated a 6ft 3in (1.9m) William and Mary walnut and featherbanded bureau cabinet offered by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium).

Stuttgart auction house Nagel (33% buyer’s premium) held its summer sale of Asian art in Salzburg having acquired an impressive array of quality pieces from European and other collections.

"He had taken a taxi from Heathrow to Easingwold. After fierce bidding on the phones and internet he bought it, put it in his suitcase and the taxi was still waiting outside the saleroom with the meter ticking to go back to Heathrow.”