Chinese Works of Art

A Chinese export dinner service used in the home of three Georgian prime ministers comes for sale this week as part of Asian Art in London.

A selection of hammer highlights from recent auctions offering East Asian objects.

A selection of previews from auction houses either taking part in Asian Art in London (marked below with a *) or holding sales to coincide with the event.

A selection of previews from dealers taking part in the East Asian section of Asian Art in London.

Download our maps showing participants in the East Asian section of Asian Art in London, October 29-November 7.

Following on from the nominees for the best Indian and Islamic object (published in ATG No 2463), an equivalent shortlist has been announced for pieces in the East Asian category.

This 21½in (55cm) high Qianlong famille rose vase and stand sold for €3.7m (£3.3m) at the Drouot in Paris last month.

Further pieces from English porcelain specialist’s collection are among highlights in Lewes.

The highlight of last week’s Asian art series in New York was this remarkable 14in (35cm) high Warring States period (475-221BC) bronze sacrificial wine vessel or 'fang hu'.

This 9in (23cm) Qing blue and white porcelain bowl decorated in underglaze blue with squirrels in fruiting bears a Qianlong (1736-95) six-character seal mark and is probably of the period.

The highlight of an Asian art auction held at Drouot by Auction Art on September 25 is this 21½in (55cm) high Qianlong lantern-shaped vase famille rose vase and stand.

Estimated at Zar20,000-30,000, this 11in (28cm) ‘crane and deer’ famille rose pear-shaped vase sold for Zar2m (£91,800) at Stephan Welz (14% plus VAT buyer’s premium) in Cape Town.

On September 30 Veritas in Lisbon is selling Asian works of art from a single-owner private Portuguese collection formed over the past 35 years in an auction titled An Erudite Collection: objects and works of art from Shang to Qing Dynasty.

This month’s Asian art series in New York could be the last sales to avoid the new trade tariffs that have been imposed by the Trump administration.

The Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD), founded by the nomadic Tuoba clan, was the most long-lived and most powerful of the northern dynasties prior to the reunification of China under the Sui. Most importantly for Chinese art history, the ruling royal family were converts to Buddhism.

Two very different Chinese vases took the limelight at a recent sale Fieldings (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Stourbridge.