Press Release Hong Kong
For Immediate Release
Hong Kong | Bonnie Ko | +852 2822 8143 | [email protected] | New York | Dan Abernethy | [email protected] |
London | Matthew Floris | [email protected]
SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG PRESENTS
LITERATI / CURIOSITY II
DURING ITS SPRING SALES 2016
THIS SEASON’S CABINET OF CURIOSITY INCLUDES
WONDERS SPANNING MILLIONS OF YEARS
AND ALL WORLD CULTURES,
FROM A MAMMOTH SKULL TO A RUBENS DRAWING
Hong Kong Public Exhibition: 1 – 4 April | Auction: 5 April
Hong Kong, 18 March 2016
Sotheby’s Hong Kong is delighted to present Literati / Curiosity II on 5 April (Tuesday)
during its Spring Sales 2016 at Hall 5, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The sale offers a total of 143 lots
estimated in excess of HK$53 million / US$6.8 million *.
The Literati/Curiosity II sale stands at the crossroads of the Chinese scholar’s aesthetic and the European cabinet of curiosity
and presents an eclectic and thought-provoking assemblage of ancient Chinese scholar’s rocks, old master drawings,
contemporary ink art, objects of natural history, Song dynasty tea bowls, fragmentary sculpture and African art.
Nicolas Chow, Deputy Chairman, Sotheby’s Asia, International Head and Chairman, Chinese Works of Art, says,
“This season's cabinet of curiosity is populated by a large cast of malformed ancient stones and wooden stumps, many from a
collection lovingly assembled in Japan; beasts from a distant past, real and fictional, including the massive skull of an
erstwhile Mammoth; numerous gods, for the most part limbless or headless; aggressive ancient bronze ritual vessels; a
formidable cast of three ecorches, unleashed on us by Rubens; chaste Song dynasty ceramics; and many other curious things
formed by nature or man spanning millions of years to the present day. To complement these, we are presenting a small but
rich selection of contemporary art. We hope that each and every one will find in this sale something to exalt or tease the eye.”
SALE HIGHLIGHTS
OLD MASTER DRAWINGS
The four European Old Master Drawings in the sale show how different artists across
three centuries used a variety of different media and techniques to explore the human form
and how to represent it. The undoubted star is the immensely powerful and evocative penand-ink anatomy study by Rubens, in which his flayed figures seem to twist and writhe. It,
like the fine red chalk drawings by Bloemaert, was made in connection with a proposed
academic publication. The other two drawings were made as studies for paintings:
Natoire took a figure from a classical relief and adapted it for inclusion in his canvas,
while Poynter clearly based his fine black chalk study on a posed, live model. All four
drawings transport us back to the artist’s moment of creation and invention.
SCHOLAR’S ROCKS
The culture surrounding the appreciation of strange natural stone formations is deeply
rooted in Taoist thought and the aesthetics of so called scholar’s rocks developed primarily
during the Song dynasty. The sale includes a rich selection of Chinese rocks highlighted by
a collection of twenty-some pieces assembled in Japan over the last few decades, all desk
size to be appreciated within the rarefied confines of the scholar’s studio. The towering,
intricately wrinkled Ying rock in the sale, together with the diminutive Ying rock formerly
in the collection of Japanese scholar Nagao Uzan (1864-1942) are particularly noteworthy
for their dramatic and evocative form.
AFRICAN AND OCEANIC ART
The selection of African and Oceanic art celebrates the creativity across
the African continent and the broad area of the Pacific Islands where
these objects have been created for use within traditional ceremonial
context. This selection from the archaic Gimbala bronze horse and rider
figure through the Bamana antelope headdress from Mali, and the
Bamana Boli figure and the Middle Sepik River stone head from Papua
New Guinea, exemplifies the unique treatment of human and animal
forms in the traditional context of the 16th to 19th centuries in which
artists interpreted the forms in a highly abstract way. It was this abstraction combined with a great spirituality which inspired
the great artists of the early 20th century from Picasso, to Braque, to Derain, Matisse, Nolde and more to push the boundaries
of modern and contemporary art to greater degrees of abstraction, and to the birth of modernism.
CONTEMPORARY INK ART
The array of two-dimensional art works selected in this sale is united
by the medium of paper, but is not limited to a specific genre,
geography or time period. The ink art works include exemplary
paintings by Chinese artists Chen Qikuan, Gao Xingjian, Liu Dan, Li
Geng, Li Huayi and Qin Feng, as well as gestural calligraphic works
by the modern Japanese Bokujinkai group founders, Yuichi Inoue and
Shiryu Morita. Drawing upon the legacy of pure abstraction, the sale
includes distinctive print portfolios by iconic American painters Brice
Marden and Agnes Martin. The photographic works include the
enigmatic images of Richard Serra’s Joe sculpture by the multi-disciplinary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto and Japanese artist
Tomoko Yoneda. The estimate range of this eclectic contemporary selection, which mixes ink painting, photography and
prints, starts at HK$50,000 / US$6,400, and upwards.
ANCIENT CHINESE SCULPTURE
The sale includes a large number of superb Buddhist sculptures, mostly fragmentary,
spanning from the Southern and Northern dynasties to the Ming dynasty. The
complete Song dynasty wood figure of a seated bodhisattva rendered serene in
meditation would have made a striking visual effect on temple visitors. They would
have encountered this image in an elaborate almost stage-like setting with painted
murals covering the walls. The traces of gilding and pigment hint at the original
sumptuousness of the piece. The half-open eyes and gentle smile of this Buddha-tobe represent this figure’s approachability, with the right hand raised in shunimudra,
or the ‘seal of patience’. This fine piece is characteristic of the best Song dynasty
Buddhist sculpture.
NATURAL HISTORY OBJECTS
The Pleistocene mammoth skull defies the imagination and is in
itself a journey through space and time. Artists through the
centuries have derived inspiration from animal skeletons and
indeed one is reminded of the large elephant’s skull that still sits
today in Henry Moore’s studio. We are also presenting again a
selection of Oligocene gogottes, bizarre sand formations from
Fontainebleau in France which inspired the Surrealists. The array
of prehistoric objects is estimated with a range of HK$9,000 –
HK$650,000 / US$1,100 – US$83,000.
Literati/Curiosity II | 5 April
1.
LOT 2845
3.
LOT 2852
2.
LOT 2865
4.
LOT 2851
7.
LOT 2831
5.
LOT 2822
8.
LOT 2921
6.
LOT 2834
1. Li Huayi | Ensemble for Stone; Est. HK$1.8 – 2.2 million | US$232,000 – 284,000
2. A Superbly Carved Wood Figure of a Seated Bodhisattva Song Dynasty; Est. HK$5 – 7 million | US$645,000 – 905,000
3. Bamana Crest Mask (Sogoni Kun) of the Tyi Wara Society Beledugu Region, Mali; Est. HK$320,000 – 480,000 | US$41,200 – 62,000
4. A Mammoth Skull, Mammuthus Primigenius (Woolly Mammoth), Late Pleistocene, Quaternary Period (2.6 million years old), Siberia;
Est. HK$650,000 – 750,000 | US$84,000 – 96,500
5. A Magnificent Large Limestone Sculpture of a Tianlu, Eastern Han - Jin Dynasty; Est. HK$4.5 – 6.5 million | US$580,000 – 840,000
6. A Superb Ying Scholar’s Rock, Song - Ming Dynasty; Est. HK$1.2 – 1.8 million | US$155,000 – 232,000
7. Sir Peter Paul Rubens | Anatomical studies of three male figures; Est. HK$4 – 6 million | US$515,000 – 775,000
8. Morita Shiryu | Datsu (Emancipated); Est. HK$80,000 – 120,000 | US$10,300 – 15,500
Image Download:
Dropbox: http://bit.ly/1TKeT7i | Yunpan: https://yunpan.cn/cYEKA3CZcWGdG (Access Code: 11c7)
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium and prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
All catalogues are available online at www.sothebys.com/Curiosity
View Video on The Literati/Curiosity II sale: http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/videos/2016/03/literati-curiosity-ii.html
NOTES TO EDITORS
I) SOTHEBY'S HONG KONG SPRING SALES 2016 CALENDAR (The schedule is subject to change)
Auction
Category
2 April
The Private Cellar of An International Collector – Rare Wines & Whiskies
Finest and Rarest Wines – Featuring Ornellaia Archivio Storico (Part I)
Finest and Rarest Wines – Featuring Ornellaia Archivio Storico (Part II)
Brushwork – From Asia to The World
Modern and Contemporary Asian Art – Evening Sale
(Modern Asian Art, Contemporary Asian Art and Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art)
Modern Asian Art Day Sale
Contemporary Asian Art Day Sale
Modern And Contemporary Southeast Asian Art Day Sale
The Origo Collection – Contemporary Ink Art
Chinese Paintings And Calligraphy From The Yong Li Studio
Fine Chinese Paintings
Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite
Literati / Curiosity II
Important Watches
The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art
Ming Furniture – An Asian Private Collection
Kangxi – Emperorship and Power
Emperors’ Playthings – A Connoisseur’s Collection
Important Chinese Art
3 April
4 April
5 April
6 April
HONG KONG EXHIBITION AND AUCTION VENUE
Hall 5, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (New Wing), 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
II) ASIA TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS CALENDAR
Date
City
19 - 20 March
Taipei
Venue
Hua Nan Bank International Convention Center
III) UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Date
Event
17 March - 26 March
22 April - 3 May
They Would Be Kings, An Exhibition Curated by Steve Lazarides
Zheng Chongbin: Structures
Venue
Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery
Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery
IV) FOR MORE NEWS FROM SOTHEBY’S
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