Sotheby's Sale of Fine Chinese Ceramics

Tuesday, 07 March 2006 10:54

New York- On March 30, 2006, during Asian Art Week in New York, Sotheby’s sale of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art will be highlighted by a Magnificent Blue and White Jar, Guan, Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). The sale, which will also feature important classical paintings and screens, major Shang and Zhou archaic bronzes, outstanding Tang sculptural pottery and an exceptional selection of Song ceramics, with a particular focus on the medieval period of the 13th to 15th centuries, is expected to bring $15/20 million. Highlighting the sale is a Magnificent Blue and White Jar, Guan, Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), from a Distinguished Asian Family, estimated to sell for in excess of $4 million . Executed around 1350 AD, this porcelain jar is in guan form, representing the zenith of the earliest known porcelain in existence. The jar, in flawless condition, has cobalt-blue decoration and porcelain glaze that is fired to perfection, creating blue-and-white bands of waves, petal-panels, scrolling lotus and large peonies viewed from different angles. Iron-black impurities rise through the cobalt and gather at the pauses and sweeping strokes of the painter’s brush, leaving calligraphic evidence of the sublime mastery of the anonymous mid-14th century artist. Although three other jars with this exact design are known - two in Chinese museums and one in Japan - this is the only jar to have come on the market, having previously sold in 1988 and 1993 at auction. The present jar is the finest in draftsmanship, color and condition of its kind. Another cornerstone of the sale is a Magnificent Cinnabar Lacquer Barbed Dish, made for the Yongle emperor (reigned 1403-1425), offered from a Private Asian Collector and estimated to sell for in excess of $1 million (pictured here). Measuring 13 ½ in diameter, the dish depicts scholars playing weiqi, a chess game designed to train military strategy. It is one of six barbed dishes in existence and the only example in private hands; a companion dish is in the British Museum, London, inscribed Neifu Tianshifang, ‘(made for) the Department of Sweetmeats, the Imperial Household.’ Three others are in the former Imperial collection, now preserved in museums in Beijing and Tianjin. Also on offer are a rare twelve-panel ‘throne-back’ screen set with famille-rose enameled porcelain plaques from the Jiaqing period (1796-1820), offered by American university (est. $200/300,000), and a spectacular Kangxi period (1662-1722) set of twelve paintings of ‘The Hundred Birds’ from the collections of Alan Priest, curator of Asian art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1927-63, and of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, famed dealer and collector whose Chinese modern paintings and calligraphy have been given to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., and the Shanghai Museum (est. $500/750,000). This set of twelve was acquired by Priest in 1919 in Beijing, where they were reputedly removed from a palace or noble residence. Also on offer is a range of 38 classical and modern Chinese paintings from the estate of C.C. Wang (1907-2003), renowned artist and connoisseur. The selection includes works by modern masters such as Yu Chengyao (1898-1993) and Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and also Ming and Qing period works from the 15th to 17th centuries. The major highlight is Misty Landscape (one pictured here), a rare 14th century work by Fang Congyi (active c.1340-80), with twelve collectors’ seals including those of Zhang Daqian (1899-1983). Visit Sotheby's

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