Two large Chinese pale celadon jade vases that brought $1,079,000 helped bring about Skinner’s best ever Asian arts sale and the fourth highest grossing sale in the history of the auction house. The marathon sale on June 25 and 26 of more than 1,700 lots brought some especially desirable objects to market. It was a record sale at $4,822,313, with 95 percent of the lots sold. Internet and telephone bidding prolonged the sale; both sessions lasted far into the night, but bidders were patient.
One vase, carved in the shape of a double gourd with the characters of happiness and fortune, with relief carved bats and ingot lugs, and a cover with a fungus-shaped finial, brought $578,000. The other, which sold for $501,000, was carved in a flattened hu form with dragon lugs and a reserve carved with birds in flight over a lotus pond, and its domed cover was carved with an oviform knop. James F. Callahan, director of the Asian arts department at Skinner, said the jades were probably carved in the late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century and came from a Connecticut collection.
Other jades were certainly strong, although not with the spectacular strength of the vases. A jade covered jar in a gray celadon with archaic carving was $30,810, and a jade censer in yellow with gray and russet markings and ball handles sold for $29,625. A Nineteenth Century Mughal-style censer in pale celadon and carved with acanthus leaf and hibiscus blossoms and lotus scrolls brought $24,885. A Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century jade covered pot carved in the form of a lotus pod with flowers in a half white and half celadon green stone with russet and emerald green highlights fetched $44,438.
Objects from the collection of the late Charles Chi-Jung Chu were met with great favor. Chu, a talented artist whose calligraphic works are especially desirable, was a highly regarded professor who taught Chinese language, literature and the history of Chinese painting at Yale and Connecticut College. Callahan described him as a welcomed regular at Skinner Asian arts sales, who was esteemed for his eye and his profound knowledge coupled with his humility. After his retirement, he continued to paint and add to his paintings collection, which was representative of his own background and interests. Professor Chu died in the fall of 2008; he was 90.
A handscroll of the celebrations of the four seasons executed in ink and color on silk, an Eighteenth Century copy of an example from the 21st year of the Chenghua reign, around 1485, was a 303½-inch tour de force. The scroll was estimated at $3/5,000 and bidding opened at $4,750; it shot to $106,650 from a Chinese dealer in the gallery.
A 73½-inch handscroll thought to be from the Ming dynasty depicted landscapes in ink and color on silk, and in the manner of Li Zhaodao, whose signature it bears. Its provenance was detailed and interesting, and the scroll brought $28,440. A hanging scroll by Huang Binhong in ink and color depicting a hilly landscape and dated 1954 was $28,440.
A 39-inch handscroll in ink and color on paper with a bold abstract depiction of chrysanthemums by the preeminent modern Chinese artist Qi Baishi (1863‱957) bore a single seal and sold for $71,100. A Qi Baishi painting in ink and paper was a graphic rendering of shrimp, dated 1948, and brought $44,438. Catalog notes reveal that the artist painted the picture when he was 88. A third Qi Baishi work was an equally vivid ink on paper depiction of crabs, and it realized $22,615.
A Qi Baishi rendering of crabs dated 1948, not part of the Chu collection, sold for $35,550. It had sold previously at Christie’s in Hong Kong in 1995.
An ink on paper work depicting five donkeys by Twentieth Century artist Huang Zhou was dated 1976 and bore two seals. It sold for $27,255 and had been a 1980 gift to Chu from Niu Man-Chiang, professor emeritus of biology at Temple University and a primary mover in the American relations with the Beijing government.
Another gift to Chu, this one from his Shanghai professor, Zhang Huai-wen, was a group of album leaves with ink paintings and calligraphy by various artists that fetched $23,700.
An online buyer paid $18,960 for Chu’s large ivory seal carved intricately with the five sinuous dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls.
When the Chinese dealers are in pursuit of an object, estimates seem to have no meaning, although reserves are another matter. Many objects sold to Far Eastern bidders on the Internet. Los Angeles dealer Michael Chu (no known relation to Professor Chu) observed that the Chinese are gamblers at heart and that in purchasing an object unseen, buyers are gambling that it is good. The Chinese dealers are patient, for the most part, although when a desired object comes up, they jump the bidding with vigor.
A Eighteenth Century agate vase carved in the form of tree trunk with morning glories, lingzhi and pomegranate branches was colorful in hues of white, ochre and ruby. Estimated at $800․1,000, it went for $65,175. A Chinese shadow agate pendant carved with an immortal and an attendant sold for $20,145.
Modern Chinese paintings and calligraphy were favored; Skinner provided some dandy examples. The hanging scroll “Peasant Woman with Roosters” by Huang Zhou in ink and color on paper with three seals was $24,885. The scroll was dated 1978. Two modern paintings by Liu Wenxi, the June 1997 “Revolutionary Paintings of Three Generations,” bearing two seals, and “Uyghur Women and Children,” dated August 1990, brought $22,515. Each was executed in ink and color on paper.
An album of 280 Nineteenth Century gouache paintings on rice paper depicting trades, customs, scenes of punishment and methods of transportation brought $14,220. The album had been part of the collection of James Russel Brazier, who was chief secretary of the Imperial Maritime Customs beginning in 1899. Eight leaves from an album in the style of Niu Shihui depicting perching birds came from the collection of former Rhode Island governor and senator Theodore Francis Green were $11,850.
While interest in Japanese prints has been in eclipse for some time, a lot of two woodblock prints attracted solid money. “Massaki and the Sujin Grove by the Sumida River” from Hiroshige’s “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” and “Mishima Pass in Kai Province” from ” Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” by Hokusai brought $15,494.
A Japanese boxwood and ivory netsuke in the form of a clamshell containing an amorous couple was signed by premier Nineteenth Century carver Ouchi Gyokuso. It brought $10,665.
It was heartening to observe an attractive young couple in the sale room who made several purchases of prints. They explained that they live in a house that is more than 100 years old and that the Asian design aesthetic melds well with it. They bought for the fine quality of design alone, and noted that some dealers have tried to guide them to the profitable marketplace. They have resisted, happily, choosing only those objects they like, objects that they will live with for some years to come. They admitted that they felt a little sorry for a Burmese print on silk painted delicately with scenes of temples and figures that, when offered, received no bid. When auctioneer Marie Keep cut it to half the opening, they raised their paddle in sympathy with the print †and were pleased with their acquisition.
A life-size figure of the Buddhist deity Bonten was finely carved from Japanese cypress wood and stood 78 inches tall. It was thought to be a late Nineteenth Century carving by Takamura Koun after an Eighth Century statue of Bonten at Nara. It sold for $38,513. Speaking after the sale, Skinner’s director of the Asian arts department said he believed that the antique finish of the figure was probably intentional †it was made as the original viewers saw it. The carving was donated in 1911 to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by William Sturgis Bigelow, was deaccessioned in 1954 and has been in a private Boston area collection since.
A Thirteenth Century Korean Koryo stoneware maebyeong-form vase in a celadon glaze and with black and white sangam inlay and reserve of flowers and children at play was another home run when it brought $59,250. It came from a Korean collection.
A trio of Nineteenth Century Korean giltwood figures of Buddha, a central example flanked by two smaller ones, fetched $44,438, and a large Nineteenth Century Korean giltwood figure of a seated Kwannon was $27,255.
A Sino-Tibetan bronze figure of a tantric deity on a beaded lotus throne was $29,625, and a Chinese pair of bronze elephants was $23,700. A Nineteenth Century Egyptian or Syrian mosque lantern in gilt and glass, with six lugs, similar to an example at the Freer Gallery, went for $10,073.
Chinese furniture was very hot. A huanghuali cabinet of the late Ming or early Qing dynasty was in untouched condition and deserved the $292,000 that it brought. It came from the same source that forms the basis of the Asian arts collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and is headed back to China. An Eighteenth Century southern official’s hat armchair in huanghuali wood with brass mounted feet was $44,436, and a pair of Nineteenth Century southern official’s hat chairs was, in contrast, $2,252.
An Eighteenth Century rosewood table that was carved exquisitely came from a local consignor and went to China for $26,070.
An Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century Chinese display cabinet carved with archaic scrolls, bats and chilong suspending carved boxwood pendants had handles of cloisonné enamel and sold for $15,405, while an asymmetrical Chinese burlwood cup carved with geese in flight was a hefty $16,590.
The rush on Chinese blue and white porcelain seen of late in salerooms may have abated. While prices were more than healthy, they fell short of the hundreds of thousands of dollars seen not all that long ago. A Qianlong blue and white porcelain moon flask with the six-character mark was $20,145, a perfectly robust result, although more modest than previous results. A fine blue and white porcelain vase bearing the Qianlong six-character seal mark sold for $13,035. A Ming dynasty (Sixteenth Century) cobalt blue and white guan jar decorated with three four-clawed dragons brought $20,145.
Fine Chinese textiles included an Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century woman’s court headdress with a silk crown decorated with kingfisher feathers, a central bat with pearl ornamentation. A late Nineteenth Century robe embroidered with floral roundels on a dazzling red ground with lishui and wave patterns around the bottom sold for $14,220.
Eliciting $29,625 from a phone bidder was a pair of embroidered silk panels, one decorated with two courtly ladies in a garden with a phoenix, other birds and cranes, and the other with two ladies in a pavilion by the water.
A large (60¼ by 30¼ inches) Chinese silk kesi woven with images of the gods of longevity, prosperity and happiness surrounded by attendants and cranes, with the auspicious symbols peony, bats and peaches, went to the Chinese trade for $20,145, and a small (55/8 inches) Qianlong famille rose meiping with intricate decorations of bats amid lotus, foliage and blossoms and underglaze blue scrolling came from the Freemyer collection of the 1920s and 1930s brought $22,515.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, www.skinnerinc.com or 508-970-3000.
