For Immediate Release
Media Release
London | +44 (0)20 7293 6000 | Matthew Floris | [email protected]
Mitzi Mina | [email protected]
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Hong Kong | +852 2822 8129 | Winnie Tang | [email protected] | Katherine Fung | [email protected]
Important Chinese Art
Sotheby’s London Sales Series
Auctions on 9 November 2016
On View: 5 – 8 November
Highlighted by
‘The Supreme Number One’
The First Chinese Imperial Firearm Ever to Appear at Auction
A Rare Tea Bowl
A Distinguished Private Collection of Jades
On 9 November 2016, Sotheby’s in London will present an exceptional series of auctions bringing together
key pieces from the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. The sales will be led by ‘The Supreme Number One’, the
first Chinese firearm with an imperial reign mark ever to appear at auction. This single-lot auction will be
preceded by a distinguished private collection of jades, while an exquisite selection of imperial ceramics and
gilt-bronze figures are highlights of the extraordinary range of material to be offered in the Important
Chinese Art sale. Comprising some 340 lots with a total estimate in the region of £6.7 million, the series of
three sales will take place during Asian Art in London, an annual ten-day celebration of the finest Asian art.
During this time, Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries will also host an exhibition presented by the Oriental
Ceramic Society featuring some 200 examples of ceramics, mostly from China and Japan, and all drawn from
members’ collections (separate press release available here).
THE SUPREME NUMBER ONE
A SUPERB IMPERIAL MATCHLOCK MUSKET
QIANLONG MARK AND PERIOD
Estimate £1,000,000-1,500,000 (HK$10,270,000-15,410,000 / US$1,330,000-1,990,000)
‘The Supreme Number One’ is the first Chinese firearm with an imperial reign
mark to be offered at auction, created for the Qianlong Emperor of the
Manchu Qing dynasty – arguably the greatest collector and patron of the arts
in Chinese history. This brilliantly designed and exquisitely crafted musket,
produced in the imperial workshops, bears not only the imperial reign mark
on top of the barrel, but in addition, incised on the breech of the barrel, are
four Chinese characters which denote the gun’s peerless ranking – the
exceptional grading te deng di yi, ‘Supreme Grade, Number One’. This grading
makes it unique amongst the known extant guns from the imperial
workshops, and asserts its status as one of the most important firearms
produced for the Qianlong Emperor. Separate press release available here.
FINE CHINESE JADES FROM THE THOMPSON-SCHWAB COLLECTION
Boasting a Qianlong imperial seal, brushpot and numerous vessels that would have adorned the home of the
elite in Chinese society, this distinguished and outstanding collection of jades represents the epitome of
classic English taste during the early to mid-20th century. Frank and Mildred Thompson-Schwab began to
create an impressive collection of Chinese jade carvings in the 1920s and 30s, a heyday for collecting Chinese
antiques before China again became inaccessible in 1938, as it had largely been before 1911. In the 1950s
the couple built up their collection with renewed vigour, acquiring pieces from the oldest and most
renowned Asian art dealers in London.
AN IMPERIAL PALE CELADON JADE ‘ZIQIANG BUXI’ SEAL
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Estimate £500,000-700,000 (HK$5,140,000-7,190,000 / US$665,000-930,000)
The Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) took great care in commemorating
the major events of his life, resulting in an extensive array of
documents and artefacts, including imperial seals. In 1790 – the 55th
year of the Qianlong reign – the elderly emperor celebrated his 80th
birthday. For Qianlong, the coincidence of 55 and 80 was of special
significance and a sign of Heaven-bestowed good fortune. This seal,
one of the numerous artefacts commemorating the event, was
originally part of a set of three seals. Made of white jade and with a
knob in the shape of coiled dragons, it is carved in intaglio with the
four characters Ziqiang buxi (“[The gentleman] never ceases to
improve himself”). Imperial seals expressed the emperor’s emotions
and state of mind at the time, and this remarkable example reflects on the emperor’s feelings late in his
reign.
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A FINE AND RARE SPINACH-GREEN JADE BRUSHPOT
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Estimate £100,000-150,000 (HK$1,030,000-1,550,000 / US$133,000-199,000)
Impressive for its large size and skilfully carved scene that unravels like a
scroll painting with each turn of the vessel, this brushpot is a fine
example of the level of expertise achieved in this medium during the
Qianlong period. Carefully composed to depict an animated group of
scholars and their assistants engaged in various activities in a lofty
landscape, the decoration of this piece follows in the tradition of Chinese
painting with the surface of the vessel treated as a horizontal scroll. Each
turn of the brushpot reveals a different scene in the narrative, making it
an object that can be appreciated from different angles. Brushpots were
essential tools for the literati and grew in popularity under the Qianlong
emperor, who considered himself a great classical scholar, poet,
calligrapher and art connoisseur.
A FINELY CARVED WHITE JADE SQUARE BOWL
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Estimate £50,000-60,000 (HK$515,000-620,000 / US$66,500-79,500)
Perfectly proportioned and smoothly polished to a
lustrous sheen, this bowl has been carved from a fine
and luminous white stone. White jade boulders of this
exceptional quality became available in larger
quantities in the second part of the Qianlong reign,
after the Qianlong Emperor’s campaigns to secure
control over the area of Khotan and Yarkand, in
present day Xinjiang. Prior to the conquest, jade came
in relatively small boulders to the Imperial Workshops
and many poems written by the Emperor deplore the
scarcity of the material.
A RARE SPINACH-GREEN JADE ALMS BOWL
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Estimate £60,000-80,000 (HK$620,000-825,000 / US$79,500-106,000)
This alms bowl is notable for the rich and dynamic design of
ferocious dragons and animated chilong amongst swirling
clouds – a subject much treasured by the Qianlong Emperor.
Bowls of this type appear to have been inspired by the massive
black jade bowl attributed to the Yuan dynasty, modelled with
an incurved rim and carved with dragons above waves, which
was discovered at a Daoist temple during the Qianlong
Emperor’s reign.
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IMPORTANT CHINESE ART
AN EXQUISITE AND RARE ‘JIAN’ ‘HARE’S FUR’ ‘TENMOKU’ BOWL
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY
Estimate £300,000-400,000 (HK$3,090,000-4,110,000 / US$398,000-530,000)
This iridescent tea bowl reputedly came to Japan as one of the
fabled first bowls brought in the Kamakura period (1185- 1333) by
Japanese monks, who discovered the art of ritual tea drinking from
black tea bowls in Buddhist temples in southern China. In Japan
tenmoku tea bowls have been admired, treasured and reverentially
used in the tea ceremony ever since. ‘Jian’ tea bowls with a nearblack glaze with a coppery hare’s fur pattern emanating a prismatic
effect of spectral colouration when reflecting light, are among the
rarest and most desirable of all nogime tenmoku tea bowls. At first
glance, these bowls seem humble, but occasionally they display the
ravishing glaze effects seen on this piece. Nogime [‘ear of grain’] is
the Japanese term for the striations of the glaze that in China and
the West are likened to ‘hare’s fur’. The dark glaze showed off the white froth of whipped tea to best
advantage, and the thick walls had an insulating effect, keeping the beverage hot and the fingers, which
embraced the bowl, cool. The indentation just below the rim allowed for a firm, yet elegant, grip.
Tenmoku tea bowls are the ultimate ceramics to behold from close up, and their extreme beauty and rarity
explains their reverential treatment in Japan. To accord with their nacreous sheen, the finest bowls were
often thoughtfully matched with a carefully selected ancient lacquer bowl stand inlaid in mother-of-pearl.
Dressed in silk draw-string pouches, with a tailor-made silk cushion inside, and kept in tight-fitting paulownia
wood boxes, they were able to survive nearly a thousand turbulent years intact.
Tenmoku tea bowls are a case apart among Song dynasty ceramics. No other
kiln centre besides that of Jianyang in Fujian, which produced these black
bowls, was bold enough to limit its output to one single product. This bowl is
one of the exceptional tea wares included in what is considered the most
important catalogue of tea utensils in the world of Tea Ceremony, published
in nine volumes between 1921 and 1925, and written by the tea master,
Takahashi Sōan (1861-1937).
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AN EXTREMELY RARE IMPERIAL PARCEL-GILT IRON HELMET
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD
Estimate £50,000-70,000 (HK$515,000-720,000 / US$66,500-93,000)
Notable for its fine and precise casting which suggests an association
with the Qianlong Emperor, this helmet would have been made for
ceremonial use, although the protective steel plates on the three flaps
are also found on armours meant for battle. The Qianlong Emperor was
particularly obsessed with his military successes and in his old age
referred to himself as Shiquan Laoren (‘The Old Man of the Ten
Completed Great Campaigns’). Qianlong customarily wore helmets of
this type together with elaborate matching armour on his great
inspections of the military. It was the Kangxi Emperor, Qianlong’s
grandfather, who first used helmets inscribed in Tibetan script. The
inscription may have originally had a protective function for the wearer
and draws attention to the devotion of the Qing Emperors to Tibetan
Buddhism.
AN IMPORTANT AND RARE WINE VESSEL, ZUN
EARLY WESTERN ZHOU DYNASTY
Estimate £120,000-150,000 (HK$1,240,000-1,550,000 / US$159,000199,000)
Originally used as ritual wine containers, zun are known from the late
Erligang period and grew in popularity during the Shang dynasty. They
were made either with angular shoulders or of beaker shape, which
appears to have evolved from archaic bronze gu. This zun is outstanding
for its crisply cast taotie motif which stands in relief against the
precisely cast leiwen ground, and complements the elegant silhouette
of the sweeping neck. Remarkably well-preserved, the refined rendering
of the taotie mask with rounded horns is unusual and makes this vessel
particularly rare.
A PAIR OF LARGE FAMILLE-ROSE YELLOW-GROUND ‘BAJIXIANG’ ALTAR VASES, GU
QIANLONG MARKS AND PERIOD
Estimate £200,000-300,000 (HK$2,060,000-3,090,000 / US$265,000-398,000)
Striking for their large size and finely executed design, this pair of
vases belongs to a rare group of altar wares commissioned by the
Qianlong Emperor to furnish the many shrines, temples and
ritual spaces within the compounds of the Imperial palaces.
Made from the finest materials, including cloisonné enamel,
bronze and porcelain, these vases were often placed in front of
altars as part of a five-piece altar set (wugong), which typically
comprised an incense burner flanked by two candleholders and
vases. Each piece of the garniture played an essential part within
the altar: vases such as this pair were meant to hold flowers,
which were offered both for their beauty as well as reminders of
impermanence.
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A RARE RU-TYPE VASE
QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD
Estimate £100,000-150,000 (HK$1,030,000-1,550,000 / US$133,000-199,000)
Deceptively simple in form and design, this elegant vase exemplifies the
technical perfection achieved by craftsmen working at the imperial kilns in
Jingdezhen. Monochrome vessels required the highest level of skill and
precision in every stage of their production, from the purity of the clay and
precision of the potting to the evenness of the glaze and control of the firing.
The highly tactile and subtle glaze of this piece has been created in imitation
of Ru ware, one of the ‘five great wares’ of the Song period. The Qianlong
Emperor contributed greatly to the fame of the ware by composing a large
number of poems on Ru and having them engraved on pieces from the
imperial storerooms. The Qianlong Emperor inherited this fascination with Ru
ware from his father, the Yongzheng Emperor – during his reign, he commissioned a growing number of
elegant monochrome wares inspired by Song originals.
A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF CHAKRASAMVARA
MONGOLIA, 18TH CENTURY
Estimate £60,000-80,000 (HK$620,000-825,000 / US$79,500-106,000)
Striking for the sensitive modelling of the figures’ facial features, this piece
depicts the Yidam Samvara in its Chakrasamvara manifestation, also known as
Wheel of Supreme Bliss. Chakrasamvara was worshipped in Tibet and
Mongolia during the Qing dynasty. The best known of the four Yidams of
Vajrayana Buddhism, this manifestation of Samvara depicts the deity
trampling over two figures, Kalaratri (‘Night of Time’), symbolic of nirvana, and
Bhairava, representative of samsara, while embracing his prajña Vajravarahi,
who wraps one of her legs around him.
A RARE AND FINELY CAST GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF SHADAKSHARI
AVALOKITESHVARA
QING DYNASTY, KANGXI PERIOD
Estimate £80,000-120,000 (HK$825,000-1,240,000 / US$ 106,000-159,000)
The worship of Shadakshari-Lokeshvara dates back to at least the eleventh
century in eastern India. This rare early Qing period statue of ShadakshariLokeshvara depicts the four-armed manifestation of the great bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara, often regarded as the patron deity of Tibet.
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This season, Sotheby’s biannual Chinese art sales series will be preceded by a unique auction:
CHINA IN PRINT & ON PAPER
Alongside Sotheby’s biannual sales of important Chinese art, the company will
present China in Print and on Paper. The most significant auction of its kind to
be held in a generation, the sale reveals the rich history of cartography,
exploration, trade and diplomacy between China and the West for over half a
millennium. Together, the books, maps, photographs and works on paper
show different aspects of China, from those who lived within its borders and
those from outside. At the heart of the sale are two magnificent single-owner
collections formed over many years by private collectors Bernard Hanotiau in
Belgium, and Floyd Sully in Canada. The auction will be held on 7 November
2016, and will be preceded by a public exhibition from 3-7 November. Browse
the full sale catalogue here. Separate press release available here.
Dates for your diary
Fine Chinese Jades from the Thompson-Schwab Collection:
9 November, 10am, full catalogue available here
Supreme Number One: A Superb Imperial Matchlock Musket
9 November, 11.30am, full catalogue available here
Important Chinese Art:
9 November, 11.30am and 2.30pm (following the sale of the musket), full catalogue available here
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