Asian Art

Provenance adds cachet to a varied selection offered in regional sale after London first dibs

During the Meiji period, the Kyoto artist and entrepreneur Nishimura Sozaemon (1855-1935) used Western mechanised weaving techniques to develop new styles of Japanese decorative textiles.

The spring and autumn traditionally turn the London spotlight on Islamic and Indian works of art. This year there are specialist sales at five auction houses in March and April: Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams, Chiswick Auctions and Roseberys. Pictured here are some highlights together with associated works of art from mixed-discipline sales.

A highlight of the Asian arts sale to be held by Beaussant Lefèvre at Drouot in Paris on April 15 will be this Qing dynasty spinach-green nephrite jade imperial seal that belonged to the Qianlong Emperor (1736-95).

Shanshan Wang is among the exhibitors at this month’s Chelsea Antiques & Fine Art Fair. She focuses on early Asian art from the Neolithic era to the 10th century and also produces contemporary pieces of her own.

Skinner is holding two sales of Asian works of art in Marlborough, Massachusetts, this month: online from March 14-24 and live on March 23.

Two Soloman Island clubs were catalyst to amassing of more than 10,000 artefacts

This blue and white ewer with a Qianlong mark offered at Cheffins (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge as part of an Interiors sale is of a type modelled on a Zhou bronze ritual wine vessel or 'he'.

Qing period embroidered satin throne-back cushion covers can be seen still in situ in a number of the buildings in the Forbidden City including the Hall of Supreme Principle and the Palace of Eternal Spring. Others are held by institutions and collectors throughout the world.

Chinese export bowls such as this one, decorated in the mandarin palette with famille rose foxhunting scenes, were popular both with the British and American markets in the last quarter of the 18th century.

A collection of Chinese snuff bottles offered in two sessions stands out among an intriguing selection of Asia Week New York auctions and dealer shows.

Leading the sale held by Thomson Roddick (18% buyer’s premium) in Rosewell, Edinburgh, was a 7in (18cm) high Qing iron red bottle decorated with chilong dragons amid stylised clouds. It had apparently been rejected by ‘a more prestigious auctioneer’.

Some 26 galleries will be participating in the dealers’ section of Asia Week New York either in person at a variety of city galleries or online.

This silver-gilt chinoiserie garniture would not have looked out of place at the Brighton Pavilion.

Two signed watercolours by the Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain (1913-2011) will be on sale at Bruneau & Co of Cranston, Rhode Island, on February 21.

One of the highlights of the April 2007 London Islamic sale series had been this 2ft 4in (74cm) high white marble bust of Maharajah Duleep Singh by neoclassical sculptor John Gibson.

The potent mix of China, horseracing and the 1851 Great Exhibition yielded a strong price for this splendid ‘export’ silver trophy at auction.

A set of six 17th century portraits depicting Ottoman sultans sparked an extraordinary bidding contest at a Sotheby’s online sale.