Chinese Works of Art

Two Qing soapstone seals sold to a Chinese bidder for Dkr1.1m (£130,640), around 100 times their estimate, at Bruun Rasmussen (24 % buyer’s premium) in Copenhagen on November 29.

December is traditionally a month when Paris focuses attention on sales of Asian art, with auctions in the rooms across the city and at the Drouot centre.

The Jean-Claude Lepileur (1926-2016) collection of Chinese archaic bronzes offered as a stand-alone collection at Gorringe’s in Lewes on November 28 totalled £582,000.

Despite the imperfections of the market for Chinese works of art, for many regional auctioneers this still vibrant area has done much to offset the soft prices for brown furniture which used to underpin the home market.

This collection of late Qing dynasty Chinese hair ornaments fashioned as bats, flowers and foliage and set with kingfisher feathers, coral, jade and pearls is part of a group of 30 lots from the collection of Evelyn Williams Medows Norie (1862-1915) which is on offer at Bruun Rasmussen on November 29.

More evidence that Chinese lots can leave auctioneers sitting pretty came in sales north and south.

Glasgow saleroom Mulberry Bank will offer a late 18th century Qing famille rose bottle vase with an estimate of £1.5m-2m in its October 20-21 auction.

Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire sold a Yongzheng (1723-35) mark and period dish for £230,000 (plus premium) on September 29.

A collection of early 20th century Chinese silver attracted wide interest at Catherine Southon’s (18% buyer’s premium) September 6 sale at Selsdon, south London.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn series posted benchmark sums in two Chinese works of art categories. Records were broken for both ceramics and carved jade.

A selection of good online illustrations plus a brief noncommittal description can be the regional auctioneer’s safest route when offering Chinese works of art. It proved successful when a porcelain bowl was consigned to the September 7 sale Greenslade Taylor & Hunt (19% buyer’s premium) held at Taunton.

Tapering cabinets or yuanjiaogui were valued by the Ming and Qing for their practical use, as the primary place of storage for clothes and linen, and also paintings and books.

Lazarus Halstead, head of Asian art at Chiswick Auctions, describes this 33ft (10m) long handscroll as “both a work of art and an historical document”.