Albert (1927-2018) and Leonie van Daalen-Roell (1930-2018) were descendants of Dutch families who followed family tradition in amassing an extensive art collection.
On November 11 Roseberys of West Norwood is offering around 50 lots from their estate, from archaic bronzes to Tang ceramics and later export porcelain. This late Shang dynasty ritual food vessel (Yu) - pictured top - was used for making offerings of grains and vegetables during religious ceremonies or ancestral rituals.
These Bronze Age vessels were popular during the Yinxu Period (13th-11th centuries BC) with excavated examples suggesting that this particular type, with rounded protrusions emanating from a diamond cartouche, hails from Shaanxi province. Bought by Albert and Leonie van Daalen-Roell from London dealer Ben Janssens Oriental Art in 2001, it has expectations of £50,000-80,000.
Wood netsuke of two shishi curled around each other signed Tametaka, Nagoya - estimate £15,000-20,000 at Bonhams on November 4.
Alongside a sale of Fine Japanese Art (November 5), Bonhams will also offer a single-owner sale of netsuke from a French private collection on November 4.
Collected over three decades, the 152 lots include 15 examples by Tametaka Kitaemon, founder of the 18th century Nagoya school of carving. This wood netsuke of two shishi curled around each other signed Tametaka, Nagoya on the underside of one foot was formerly in the Harriet Szechenyi collection sold at Bonhams in 2011.
Estimate £15,000-20,000.
German firm Nagel will be in the UK capital for Asian Art in London promoting items from its sale in Stuttgart on December 8-9.
It includes some of the 150 lots in the catalogue that were acquired in China between 1911-38 by Friedrich and Dr Ruth Boss. Some of the pieces were photographed at the time in the couple’s Tientsin home including this gilt lacquer late Ming figure of Guanyin, 23in (58cm) high.
Estimate €9000-15,000.
This 17th century huanghuali low-back armchair (meiguiyi), a type often called a ‘rose’ writing chair, is estimated at £50,000-80,000 in Bonhams, November 5 sale.
Bonhams’ New Bond Street sale of Fine Chinese Art on November 5 includes a collection of huanghuali furniture with provenance to a family member who was an assistant commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police between 1919-28.
This 17th century low-back armchair (meiguiyi), a type often called a ‘rose’ writing chair, is decorated with a pair of confronted chilong on the back panel and side struts shaped as shou characters. A nearly identical chair is in the Forbidden City collection.
Estimate £50,000-80,000.
Sworders’ sale on November 6 includes this pair of Kangxi pear form blue and white ewers that bear labels for the Pierpont Morgan collection, guided at £1500-2000.
Sworders’ Asian art sale in Stansted Mountfitchet on November 6 includes this pair of Kangxi (1662-1722) pear form blue and white ewers that bear labels for the Pierpont Morgan collection.
They come for sale from the family of Jay Gould (1836-92), one of the famous US ‘Industrial Robber Barons’ whose sometimes sharp business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late 19th century.
His son George (1864-1923), also a financier and railroad executive, was an important client of the dealer Joseph Duveen.
The 7in (17cm) high ewers are guided at £1500-2000.
Sotheby’s sale on November 3 includes this pair of Arita porcelain hawks c.1680 with an estimate of £120,000-150,000.
Sotheby’s sale of Fine Japanese Art on November 3 includes this pair of Arita porcelain hawks c.1680 with an estimate of £120,000-150,000.
Raptor figures such as this were extremely popular with European porcelain collectors in the late 17th century.
Christie’s November 3 sale is highlighted by ‘property from a princely collection’ that includes a group of archaic jade carvings formerly in the collection of Baron (1894-1991) and Baroness von Oertzen (1908-2007).
Acquired by the South African collectors in the 1960s, they were last sold at Christie’s 12 years ago.
The group is headlined by this jade belt hook (dai got) made during the Western Han period. Shaped from a single slab of translucent, pale yellowish stone with a crested animal-mask, a long-tailed bird and abstract curling patterns, it has survived in virtually perfect condition for more than 2000 years.
Only one comparable is known: that from the 3rd century BC tomb of a nobleman excavated in 1978 in Shandong Qufu, ancient capital of the Lu State.
The estimate is £600,000-800,000.
Large Yongzheng mark and period ‘dragon’ dish - estimate £260,000-360,000 at Sotheby’s Important Chinese Art sale on November 4.
This large Yongzheng (1722-35) mark and period ‘dragon’ dish is striking for its impressive size and colourful design. Painted in vibrant colours of the famille-rose palette, the design is filled with powerful portents of good fortune and long life, suggesting that it may have been intended as an imperial birthday gift for the Yongzheng emperor.
On this dish two ferocious side-facing five-clawed dragons, symbols of the emperor, are painted in washes of pink and green enamels moving towards a central shou medallion. The five-coloured clouds, eight cranes and ten red bats carry further symbolic meanings.
It comes for sale from the ‘property of a European noble family’ at Sotheby’s Important Chinese Art sale on November 4 with a guide of £260,000-360,000.
The sale of Chinese Works of Art at Mallams in Cheltenham on November 4 includes this blue and white Transitional period dish, c.1640 - estimate £1500-2000.
The sale of Chinese Works of Art at Mallams in Cheltenham on November 4 includes this blue and white Transitional period dish, c.1640, decorated to the interior in the ‘Masters of the Rocks’ style with figures in a mountainous river landscape. The base has an apocryphal Chenghua mark.
The dish, measuring 10in (26cm) across, comes by descent from Beningbrough Hall near York.
Estimate £1500-2000.
Lyon & Turnbull’s Fine Asian Works of Art in London on November 5 features this Qianlong imperial yellow ground silk brocade ‘dragon’ panel, 18in x 2ft 7in (46 x 83cm).
The textile (purchased from the auction house in the 1960s) comes with a framed letter, also shown above, composed by one Miss MF Willis, stating that her uncle Major General Swanton acquired this piece ‘in Peking, 1840’ – although historically, 1860 and the Second Opium War is more likely to be accurate.
There are two British soldiers to which ‘Major General Swanton’ could refer: William Oliver Swanton (1827-1908) of the Madras Staff Corps and William Nowell Swanton (1833-1912) of the Indian Army.
Estimate £10,000-15,000.
This large 18th century blanc de chine or Dehua figure of Guanyin is estimated £15,000-20,000 at Woolley & Wallis on November 10.
This large 18th century blanc de chine or Dehua figure of Guanyin standing on a large lotus leaf and flower comes for sale at the Woolley & Wallis Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art sale in Salisbury on November 10.
Standing 2ft (60cm) high the figure has two impressed marks: a six-character Wanli mark and a gourd-shaped mark reading Fujian Dehua zhizao. It comes from a private collection in West Yorkshire and was last sold in the 1970s when purchased from Hugh Moss at the Grosvenor House fair.
Estimate £15,000-20,000.
Chinese porcelain monteith dating from the end of the reign of the emperor Kangxi is for sale at Duke’s on November 9 estimated at £40,000-60,000.
It is thought that the earliest Chinese porcelain monteith appeared c.1715, coinciding with the establishment of the East India Company’s factory in Canton.
The design of these, first made in silver in the 1680s, was perfectly suited to the cooling of wine bottles or wine glasses with the bottle necks or stems held securely within the shaped rim. The deep base could then be filled with chilled water. The large size of this example dating from the end of the reign of the emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) suggest it was most likely to have been made for bottles rather than glasses.
The exotic famille verte decoration of flowers and leaping carp combined with the European form would have made these extremely desirable among the high society of the time. A similar pair thought to have been acquired by George IV for Brighton Pavilion, now reside in the dining room at Clarence House.
This one comes for sale at Duke’s of Dorchester from the family of Major Sir Alfred Hammond Aykroyd 2nd Baronet of Lightcliffe, Yorkshire (1894-1965). Duke’s expects it to bring £40,000-60,000 on November 9.
On November 18 at Olympia Auctions this early 20th century carved coral figure has a guide of £600-800.
In the European and Asian Works of Art auction on November 18 at Olympia Auctions there will be a small group of Chinese hardstones from a private European collection, including this 7in (18cm) early 20th century carved coral figure. Acquired by the vendor in Milan, it has a guide of £600-800.
The core of the Asian art sale at Dawsons in Maidenhead on November 5 comes from a private Hampstead vendor who collected Chinese and Japanese objects for over 30 years.
Alongside Shang archaic bronzes, Tang tomb figures and 13th-15th century celadon wares is this 18th century white jade brushwasher carved as a duck with its head curving to form a handle. Estimate £30,000-50,000.
Mallams’ sale on November 5 includes this shallow porcelain bowl made by the Kozan Studio in the Meiji-Taisho period - estimate £1500-2000.
Mallams’ sale of Japanese, Indian and Islamic Works of Art in Cheltenham on November 5 includes this shallow porcelain bowl made by the Kozan Studio in the Meiji-Taisho period. Decorated in underglaze blue with trailing branches of chrysanthemum, it is signed Makazu Kozan to a recess within the three legs.
Estimate £1500-2000.
Pottery burial figures set featuring 12 animal figures, modelled as the signs of the Chinese zodiac - estimate £4000-6000 at Pax Romana Auctions in London on November 8.
A sale titled Masterpieces of Ancient Asia held by Pax Romana Auctions in London on November 8 includes a large number of Ming and earlier pottery burial figures.
This set features 12 animal figures, the largest 9in (22cm) high, modelled as the signs of the Chinese zodiac dressed in court robes, painted in a range of blues, greens, yellows and reds. They come for sale from the collection of an Oxford professional, formed in the 1970s-90s on the UK art market.
Estimate £4000-6000.
Ink on paper hanging scroll by Zhu Da (Bada Shanren) - estimate £50,000-80,000 at Roseberys on November 11.
Roseberys’ Asian art sale in London’s West Norwood on November 11 includes this ink on paper hanging scroll by Zhu Da (Bada Shanren) (c.1626-1705). The scene of two birds on a branch, 14 x 22in (35 x 55cm), has a guide of £50,000-80,000.
Exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, between 2016-18, it comes by descent from Edward Osman Bruce Cowen who bought it in the 1940s.
‘Ted’ Cowen arrived in Tientsin in the late 1920s to live with his father who was editor of the North China Morning Post. Later in Peking, where he worked as a buyer and manager for a fur trader, he lived in Wei Shan Tsui Lao T’ang (Hall of Greatest Happiness and Goodness) in the former palace of Yikuang (Prince Qing).
Cowen spent his latter year in Hong Kong, bequeathing a collection of imperial costumes and embroideries to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Living in the time of the birth of the Qing dynasty, Bada Shanren is often referred to as the voice of the yimin, one of the discarded subjects of the Ming dynasty. His works, many of them painted while working as a relative hermit in a studio he called Wuge caotang (Hut for Sleeping Alone and Waking to Sing), exhibit subtle loyalist sentiments with depictions of birds and animals a means to subtly mock Qing officials.
Semley Auctions in Dorset will sell the Martin Robert Morland (1933-2020) collection of Chinese ceramics on November 7.
This Transitional period blue and white sleeve vase, 10in (25cm) high has a label for London dealership Marchant and the firm’s 1980 exhibition Wan Li to K’ang Hsi. It was purchased there on July 15, 1980, with the original receipt included in the lot. Estimate £10,000-15,000.
Qing teadust glazed vase, with a six-character Daoguang mark and of the period - estimate £2000-3000 at Chiswick Auctions on November 18.
This Qing teadust glazed vase, 13in (33cm), has a six-character Daoguang (1820-50) mark and is of the period. It comes for sale from a European private collection with a guide of £2000-3000 as part of a sale titled The Chinese Art of Monochrome at Chiswick Auctions on November 18.
Pair of famille rose vases decorated in mirror image with scattered characters from the Wu Shuang Pu, the ‘Table of Peerless Heroes’ - estimate £20,000-30,000 at Dreweatts on November 11.
This 4ft 5in (1.32m) high pair of famille rose vases is decorated in mirror image with scattered characters from the Wu Shuang Pu, the ‘Table of Peerless Heroes’. Each figure is accompanied with a title and panels shaped as auspicious objects enclosing inscriptions identifying the characters.
The pair, on carved gilt wood stands from a country house collection in Hampshire, has a guide of £20,000-30,000 at Dreweatts’ sale of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Part 1) in Newbury on November 11.
Ivory okimono of two fishermen signed Gyokuzan estimated at £2500-4000 at David Stanley Auctions on November 7.
The sale at David Stanley Auctions in Leicestershire on November 7 comprises a single-owner collection of more than 100 lots of 19th century and earlier Chinese and Japanese ivories.
The group of okimonos, netsuke and other objets d’art includes this fine ivory okimono of two fishermen signed Gyokuzan estimated at £2500-4000.
Dreweatts’ ‘Part II’ sale of Asian art on November 12 includes this Seto porcelain double gourd vase decorated with pine branches by Kato Tomotaro - estimate £600-800.
Dreweatts’ ‘Part II’ sale of Asian art on November 12 includes this 9in (23cm) Seto porcelain double gourd vase decorated with pine branches by Kato Tomotaro (1851-1916).
It is signed to the base Yugyokuen Toju sei. Tomotaro, a student of Gottfried Wagener, became manager of the Edogawa Seitosho (Ceramics Manufacturing Company) in 1877. In 1883 he took over a kiln set up by Wagener and renamed it as Yugyokuengama, at the same time adopting the art name Toju.
Estimate £600-800.
Kakeimon model of the mythical flaming tortoise or minogame, c.1660-80 - estimate £1000-2000 at Woolley & Wallis on November 10.
This kakeimon model of the mythical flaming tortoise or minogame, c.1660-80, comes for sale at Woolley & Wallis’s sale of Japanese Works of Art in Salisbury on November 10.
Only three examples of this particular 7in (18cm) model were recorded – one is at Burghley House – until Woolley’s vendor recently found another in a charity shop in the Cotswolds.
The estimate is £1000-2000.
