Lyon & Turnbull is among a clutch of auction houses to kick off the Asian art season. On September 13 the Edinburgh saleroom will offer more than 50 lots of Japanese ceramics, ivory, lacquer and metal work from the collection of Hugh Malcolm (1886-1961).
From 1913-36, Malcolm lived in the Japanese cities of Kobe and Yokohama, where he worked for Shell (then known as the Rising Sun Petroleum Company), becoming managing director in 1924.
The collection is formed of both gifts and personal purchases, many still with their original receipts.
Much of the collection resided in his modernist home designed by the Czech architect Antonin Raymond (1888-1976), one of the fathers of modern architecture in Japan. Malcolm had commissioned it after the Great Kanto earthquake destroyed most of Tokyo and Yokohama in 1923.
A highlight is this 9½in (24cm) long Meiji period gold-lacquer box above, decorated in the traditional takamaki-e technique with a cottage in a rural landscape. It carries an estimate of £800-1200.
Elsewhere, Chiswick Auctions will hold a dedicated sale of Asian art in London on September 5, opening with a 72-lot section on Japanese art.
A dozen lots of woodblocks from the 18th to 20th centuries will feature, depicting sumo wrestlers, samurai warriors and courtesans among other subjects, and ranging in price from £100 to £700.
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