Just warming up for its summer Asian week sales, Eldred’s drew a group of Chinese collectors and dealers to its April 28′9 sale, where the audience gathered significant material, most of which is headed back to China.
Bidders were particularly fond of a gilt bronze Yamantaka figure with eight arms and four heads and seated on a lotus throne, and drove it to $41,400. The 11½-inch bronze bore a seven-character Ch’ien Lung mark and was accompanied by documentation attesting to its age.
Bidding on a Ming-style bronze figure of Buddha, seated in the lotus position with a sun symbol on his chest, opened at $800. Internet bidders jumped it immediately to $9,000, but it sold to a Chinese dealer in the gallery for $12,650.
The strength of the sale was evident in the results for jades: a 7-inch white jade mountain was carved on both faces with pine landscapes with scholars at tea, had traces of russet and sold for $35,400; a celadon jade mountain with scholars on a mountain path with pine trees and pavilions had some russet traces and fetched $7,080; while a lavender and white jade mountain with a sage and a boy on a water buffalo with pine trees, prunus and pavilions brought $6,325.
An Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century ovoid white jade incense burner with wave designs on the handles and a carved mask and ram’s head decoration had a domed cover with a ram finial on a floral base, and sold for $29,900. A Nineteenth Century rectangular white jade teapot engraved with a bat and iris design on one side and calligraphy on the other realized $24,780.
Depicting the deity Shou Lao with a young attendant on a rockery base with a pine tree and jui, a white jade and celadon group brought $14,160; a white jade carving of two children playing in lotus leaves sold for $11,500. A 6-inch white jade carving of two children playing, one with a peach branch and the other with a drum, went for $10,925; an Eighteenth Century white jade carving of three frogs on lotus leaves fetched $9,775.
A 16½-inch figure of Quan Yin on a lotus base, made of green jade with a mandala in mihrab form with lotus blossom, circa 1900, realized $13,800. Fetching $23,000, a Nineteenth Century 12-inch white jade vase was carved with t’ao t’ieh and elephant heads, suspending loose ring handles, and had a domed cover with a finial and loose ring handles.
Also Nineteenth Century, a white jade baluster-form vase with a rectangular base, scrolled handles and a carved mask design with some brown inclusions drew $10,925, while an Eighteenth Century white jade covered vase with phoenix mask carving, delicate openwork handles and a domed cover brought $10,030. A Twentieth Century white jade chain vase in baluster form, carved with a lotus design and bird head and loose ring handles, was suspended in a 32-link chain. It sold for $9,440.
Attaining $8,050 each were a black and white jade dish in leaf form and carved with flowers, a branch and grass; a Sung Dynasty black and white jade carving of a guardian lion holding a pearl in its mouth; a Nineteenth Century carved white jade figure of a recumbent hound with russet highlights; and a white jade miniature mountain in boulder form with a carved landscape. An Eighteenth Century gray and white jade carving of two kylins brought $5,750.
A 4-inch carved figure of Liu Hai on a rockery base with a three-legged frog garnered $6,900, and a 6-inch carved white jade figure of a fisherman aboard a boat smoking a pipe and surrounded by carp and curling waves brought $5,750.
A 17¾-inch cloisonné enamel circular table screen decorated with travelers in a landscape on one side and a river landscape on the other stood on a cloisonné stand with a passionflower design; it sold for $11,800.
Important textiles included a k’ossu robe embroidered with rondels of butterflies and peonies on a dark blue ground above curling waves that came from an off-Cape collection and sold for $29,900. A k’ossu robe embroidered with 9 five-claw dragons, clouds and Buddhistic symbols on a yellow ground sold for $24,150. A pair of 12-inch silk needlework cushions decorated with five-claw dragons and flowers in forbidden stitch work on a yellow ground was $5,175.
Carved ivory figures elicited more than passing interest as a Twentieth Century pair of 4¾-inch ivory boxes carved in the form of quail roosting on millet went for $12,650. The boxes came from the collection of Henry E. Haley, which was the source of many lots in the sale. A Nineteenth Century carved ivory figure of a standing Meijin with an upturned flower basket spilling flowers down her robe and a carved ivory figure of a standing Meijin holding a hoe behind her back and a flower basket in her right hand sold for $7,080, while another example holding a bird and a pearl elicited $4,425.
A very pretty pair of 16-inch famille verte porcelain jardinières from about 1900, decorated with landscapes, brought $8,050, and a Twentieth Century famille verte porcelain charger decorated with a scene of ladies in a pavilion and bearing the six-character K’ang His mark, sold online for $6,490. A blue and white porcelain jar from the Nineteenth Century decorated with warriors at battle between floral and lappet bands realized $5,175.
A pair of polychrome porcelain vases with a brilliant flower and vine design and bearing the six-character Ch’ien Lung mark sold for $5,750. A pretty little porcelain box with an engraved dragon and wave design on the engraved aubergine surface, and retaining the six-character Ming mark on the bottom, fetched $5,750.
An Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century pair of framed paintings, each of two deities amid clouds, were brilliantly colored and sold for $8,050. Their provenance included the collection of Henry E. Haley.
A lot of three wood brush rests, each of which was carved with birds and prunus, sold for $7,080.
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium.
For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com .
