The story of the annual Asian arts week at Eldred’s the last week of August was Chinese †all Chinese, all the time. Overseas bidders dominated the crowd and the phones. The auction house had a translator onsite to aid in overseas telephone bidding and other instances where language was a barrier. It was a thoughtful touch that paid off.
The presence of so many young Asian buyers, a number of whom were accompanied by young children, gave the auction a very different aspect than that of many other auctions these days.
The most coveted object in the five-day event was a late Nineteenth Century jade covered vase in pale celadon that caused enthusiastic bid jumping and driving the piece to $40,250. The vase in hu form had archaic-style decoration and was suspended by a swing handle on a wood stand that auctioneer John Scofield said was not particularly sturdy. No one cared, it was the vase that attracted everyone. It sold to a London dealer on the phone. The vase came from a Wareham collection and had been in the collection of George Purvis.
An elegant Eighteenth Century pair of white jade bowls carved in Moghul style went for $35,650 to a Chinese dealer under the tent, who was an active buyer throughout the event and seemed pleased with each purchase she made.
A Gu ware porcelain vase made in the Ming dynasty in pear shape with cylindrical handles brought $34,500 against the estimated $2/3,000, while a Ming dynasty gilt bronze figure of the immortal Quan Yin seated in the law-giving posture on a lotus base realized $34,500.
An early Twentieth Century framed porcelain Republic period tile painted with a scene of a youth and a sage beside a willow tree proved to be another surprise when it raced past the estimated $800․1,200 to $28,750. The artist was a member of the Republic period Group of Eight.
An 10-by-18-inch transitional period blue and white porcelain basin decorated with scenes of playing children attracted $7,475. A pair of polychrome porcelain plaques decorated with passionflowers and stylized birds and with the four-character Chia Ching mark sold for $6,325. A famille noir on gilt porcelain vase in a squared baluster-form and decorated with fruit and flowers and bearing the six character Ch’ien Lung mark brought $6,900. A two-part famille verte vase decorated with butterflies, flowers and shou sold for $2,530.
A Meiping-form porcelain vase in a pink coral glaze and bearing the Dao Kuang mark was estimated at $600/800 and sold for $4,888, possible Republic period, while a baluster-form porcelain vase with scenes of scholars in a bamboo grove doubled the estimate and realized $4,313. A sang de boeuf glaze porcelain vase in Hu form with a raised peach design and a six character Ch’ien Lung mark was estimated at $700/800 and sold for $3,105. A pair of polychrome porcelain pheasant figures brought $4,313.
Eldred’s rewarded bidders with a desirable selection of white jade carvings from a number of collections and estate. An absentee bidder took an Eighteenth Century white jade koro in ribbed ovoid form for $25,300. Another white jade koro, a Nineteenth Century example carved with flowers and loose ring handles, went to an absentee bidder for $18,400; still another in ovoid form with three-leaf-form feet was $6,900.
An Internet bidder paid $24,150 for a white jade covered vase in hexagonal form with foliate motifs. The vase is headed back to China, as are most of the top-selling lots in the sale.
A white jade peach-form coupe, with relief carving of a peach branch and bats, sold on the phone for $11,150. The same buyer was very busy, paying $10,350 for a white jade baluster-form hanging vase that attracted much interest, and $10,350 for a white jade figure of a meijin with a fan and a ribbon. A Nineteenth Century white jade koro in Moghul style fetched $6,900, and a white jade box carved in the form of a peach with an interior scene of a courting couple sold for $4,313.
An Eighteenth Century white jade carving of a squirrel on a folded lotus leaf brought $8,625 from the Internet, and a white jade carving of two monkeys climbing on peach branches with a butterfly sold for $6,325.
An Eighteenth Century white jade carving in the form of a seated lohan brought $4,025 on the phone, and a white jade figure in the form of a goddess sold for $3,450. A mirror with a white jade handle, a silver plated body and a gray panel depicting fruit and foliage sold for $3,738.
A jade mountain with travelers and pavilions in a landscape was carved in such a way that the mountains were delicate lavender and the foliage was green. It sold for $18,400. A white jade mountain carved with a high relief figural landscape on one side and a tree on the other went to the same bidder for $9,200, a white jade carving in the form of a child on the back of a goose accompanied by two geese sold for $6,900, and a pair of white jade seals, each of which was carved with an elephant, sold for $4,025. A Seventeenth Century rhinoceros horn seal carved in the form of a lion and its young brought $4,025.
An absentee bidder paid $9,200 for a spinach jade plaque or table screen carved with figures in a landscape on one side and with calligraphy on the reverse. A spinach green jade carving of a recumbent camel was $3,450.
A Shang dynasty yellow jade plaque in the form of a t’ao t’ieh mask-form plaque sold on the phone for $5,750, and a yellow jade vase in the form of a Buddha’s hand fruit brought $4,600. A Shang dynasty yellow jade carving of an exotic bird went to another phone bidder for $4,025, and a yellow jade coupe in the form of a folded lotus leaf drew $3,450.
A Ming dynasty gray jade finial carved with an open work crane and a foliate design realized $4,888. A Sung dynasty or earlier brown jade carving in the form of a crouching guardian lion, which came from the James and Marilyn Alsdorf collection, realized $5,750 on the phone.
A soapstone fan-form table screen, carved with an insect, bird and flowers from about 1900, sold for $1,955 to a buyer under the tent, who bid so enthusiastically that he broke his paddle. He is described by Eldred’s staff as “everyone’s favorite bidder †he spends and smiles!”
A selection of cloisonné enamel objects piqued bidder interest with the highlight being a pair of plaques depicting a tiger, a dragon, a peacock and other birds in a landscape with a pagoda that fetched $10,350. A beautiful Nineteenth Century cloisonné vase in trumpet form that stood 17¼ inches tall brought $8,625. An Eighteenth Century pair of rouleau-form cloisonné vases went to a left bid for $5,750, while a Nineteenth Century pair of baluster-form vases with trumpet mouths was $$3,220.
An Eighteenth Century cloisonné bowl decorated with horses ringing a vajra realized $4,600.
The sale was full of the unexpected: Two Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century 82-inch silk needlework panels depicted five-claw dragons on a gold ground and sold for $11,500 against the estimated $600/800. Each was made with a panel with a different needlework constellation suggestive of the seasons, and they may have been rotated accordingly. The panels came from a Chatham woman whose father-in-law spent time in China in the 1920s, and they are headed back to China.
A Nineteenth Century silk brocade and needlework court robe, embroidered with 12 five-claw dragons in gold thread, fetched $8,050, four times the low estimate, and a flat woven brocade dragon robe carved with five claw dragons on a purple ground brought $4,025 against the estimated $600/800.
The highlight of the carved ivory objects for sale was a pair of carved ivory temple-form covered vases that sold for $11,500. The vases were carved in the early Twentieth Century and had domed covers with finials in the form of carved landscapes. A pair of carved ivory phoenix on tree stump bases sold for $5,175, and a 22-inch carved ivory figure of a meijin holding a basket of flowers and a staff sold for $4,888.
An Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century pair of gilded cinnabar plates in flower form, carved with a landscape with figures and bearing the Ch’ien Lung mark, sold for $4,888, and a red cinnabar lacquer table with a figural landscape decoration sold for $4,313.
A five-piece Chinese Export silver tea set comprising a teapot, a creamer, a sugar bowl, tongs and a tray went for $4,025, and a Chinese Export silver pitcher with a spiral band decoration and the mark of Shu Ching-Yun realized $1,093.
Only a few lots of furniture were for sale, one of which was a Nineteenth Century hung mu wood display cabinet that brought $4,600.
A scroll painting of an exotic bird in a plum tree, circa 1900, by Jin Cheng sold for $6,325 against the estimated $800/900. A Tibetan thanka depicting Tara and various deities and bodhisattva fetched $4,313.
The highlight of Japanese art was a Meiji period Shibayama tusk vase with a Thousand Flowers design, highlighted with mother of pearl blossoms, that sold for $12,650. A Nineteenth Century flower-form gold lacquer box decorated with waterfall landscape views was $8,800. A blue and white Nabeshima bowl with a painted floral design attracted a robust $8,625 against the estimated $200/300. A Meiji period signed ivory group carved in the form of a nobleman with a hawk and a youth with a cormorant fetched $5,175.
An Eighteenth Century wood netsuke carved in the form of a reclining shishi with a peony branch drew $7,475, and a wood netsuke carved by Masanao in the form of a seated and snarling tiger was $6,325.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, www.eldreds.com or 508-385-3116.
