Asian Art

Sotheby’s opened its September Asia Week auctions in New York on September 10 with the $8.3m sale of Chinese art consigned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Japanese carved ivories of a tiger and an elephant soared far above estimate at Chorley’s (22% buyer’s premium).

Purchased for £1 from a Hertfordshire charity shop earlier this year, a Qianlong famille rose wall vase will carry an estimate of over £50,000 at Sworders in the autumn.

This Korean gilt bronze figure of the deity Chijang Bosal or Ksitigarbha is dated to the Goryeo dynasty (13th-14th century).

Bowl and chicken cup impress in Suffolk and Berkshire salerooms.

A UK dealer is considering moving Chinese objects to the US earlier than planned in the hope of staying ahead of import tariff changes.

The interior of this 15in (38cm) mid-19th century Chinese gilt and black lacquer workbox includes two layers of 15 small interlocking boxes. The central cruciform-shaped box has a pin cushion incorporated in the lid.

The sale of a £200,000 Chinese vase in Suffolk completed a trio of house records across the regions that belied the usually quiet auction season.

Aldridges of Bath smashed its house record last week with the sale of a Yongzheng mark and period bowl for £220,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium). It had come for sale following a routine house call.

An exceptional example of Thai silversmithing has sold for £13,500 (plus 17.5% buyer’s premium) in Leicestershire.

Penzance auction house David Lay (18% buyer’s premium) is no stranger to the great Chinese boom but in July it staged Cornwall’s first dedicated Asian sale.

A pair of 20ct gold wedding boxes dating from the late Qing period is on offer (one shown here). Both are embossed with the 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac with the lids decorated with the sign of the Dragon and the Rabbit identifying each marriage partner.

Far and away the highest result for an Asian work of art in recent sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland was the spectacular price of SFr4.2m (£3.3m) achieved by Koller in Zurich for a Chinese bronze censer (see front page, ATG No 2397).

Catalogued as a ‘tin glazed hand painted Chinese vase – 17in (42cm) tall’ and estimated at £50-80, a late 17th century Kangxi period famille verte porcelain vase of waisted trumpet form sold on June 22 for a healthier £12,000 – 150 times the top estimate.

MADAM – The niello designs on the ‘Persian’ Esther scroll sold at Lyon & Turnbull (ATG No 2398) indicate that in my opinion this is likely to be Iraqi work rather than Persian.