Eldred’s on Cape Cod conducted its weeklong Asian auctions beginning with Japanese art on August 23-25, Paul Jacoulet prints on August 24 and Asian arts on August 26 and 27. The nearly 2,500 lots brought a gross of $2,023,718. There were 1,282 bidders, with a large percentage of them international participants.

The top lot of the Japanese sale was sold on day one – a pair of Meiji period silver vases with gold inlay in katakiribori design selling for $25,300. Other highlights of the first day were a 31-by-47-inch Meiji period watercolor view of Nikko by Bonsai Loki (Bunya) that brought ten times its estimate to sell for $21,850, while a Fourteenth/Fifteenth Century brocade-mounted Buddhist scroll on silk crossed the block at $12,075. An important Meiji period Yabu Meizan Satsuma pottery jar with Lake Biwa landscape decoration brought $16,100 and a most unusual early Twentieth Century inlaid silver and iron box by Shomin sold for $14,950.

Other notable items were a Meiji period inlaid iron censer for $11,500 and a Meiji period carved ivory figure group depicting Fujiwara no Yasumasa and a bandit for $9,775. Two items each bringing $9,200 were a rare early Eighteenth Century six-panel Buddhistic screen and a Kamakura bronze temple vase dated 1325 from the Kyo Hokke-ji.

Day two comprised about 370 netsuke, ojime and inro, with the top lot at $17,250 being an ivory netsuke by Okatomo in the form of a carp and a waterwheel in curling waves. Other notable sales included a five-case black and gold lacquer inro by Kajikawa with netsuke and ojime, $15,525; an ivory netsuke by Tomotada in the form of a puppy, $14,950; a Kyoto School ivory netsuke of a lion and pup, $13,800; a wood netsuke of a frog, $9,200; and an ivory netsuke of a dancing Fukurokuju, $8,625.

This Chinese Export carved wood sofa with carved cartouches of sea life and exotic birds on the back and arms went to a Hong Kong dealer for $25,300.

Jacoulet’s work offered 110 lots with the top lot awatercolor of a young woman of Guam selling for $6,325 to aresident of Guam. Other notable prints were “The Substitute.Mongolia,” $5,175; the set of five Manchurian Princesses, $4,600;”Young Girl of Polowat,” $4,312; the extremely rare “Old South seaIsland Woman,” $3,737; and the last lot of the sale, “On TinianIsland. Marianas,” $3,105.

The Japanese sale continued on Thursday with prints and included a collection from the Forbes Library in Northampton, Mass. Some of the top lots were an early Eighteenth Century print by Masanobu of male and female warriors that brought $2,990, a print by Charles W. Bartlett of the Taj Mahal dated 1916 sold for $2,640 and three prints each selling for $2,530 were “Musashi plain” of a fox viewing his reflection by Yoshitoshi, a Bijin applying makeup by Kobayakawa Kiyo and a mountain range scene by Umetaro Azechi.

The two-day Asian arts, with gross sales of $1,005,008, accounted for nearly half of the week’s sales. The strength of the Asian sale was in the painting category that secured half of the top 20 lots. The top lot was a scroll painting in colored ink on paper by Qi Baishi (1864-1975), “Ch’i Pai-Shih,” for $106,000. Other scroll paintings, which took the majority of the top honors, included one of a blind musician attributed to Chiang Chiao-ho, $39,100; a signed and seal marked painting on paper by Hsu Pei-hung of bamboo in moonlight, $18,400; and a hand scroll on silk by Ch’iu Ying depicting the beauties of China, $14,375.

Pair of inlaid silver vases, Meiji period, silver vases with gold inlay in katakiribori design, $25,300.

Other notable scroll paintings included one on paper of ayellow sunflower for $11,500, one on silk after Castiglione (LongShis-ning) of two dogs in a landscape for $11,400 and one byShih-fu Chiu Ying of figures in a landscape for $10,200. Otherpaintings of note were one attributed to Lin Feng-men (1900-1991)of a figure with a horse, $18,000and a collection of four mountedalbum paintings, $10,200.

A Chinese Export carved wood sofa with exquisitely carved cartouches of sea life and exotic birds on the back and arms was purchased for $25,300 by a Hong Kong dealer. A 21-inch-tall Seventeenth Century gilt bronze figure of Buddha sold for $11,500 and a 19-inch tall Ming dynasty bronze figures of Buddha brought $9,600.

Some of the noteworthy porcelain pieces were a marked Yung Cheng period blue and white dish for $10,350, a Yung Cheng period Wu Ts’ai jar for $6,900, a Nineteenth Century carved celadon vase for $6,325 and a collection of ten Nineteenth Century cups that made ten times its estimate to sell at $6,000. Of the 318 snuff bottles offered, the two top lots were interior painted glass bottles by Ma Shao-hsuan, including a portrait bottle with mandarin and calligraphy decoration for $11,400 and one in rectangular form with calligraphy and fan decoration for $6,325.

Eighteenth Century ivory netsuke by Okatomo in the form of a carp and wa-terwheel in curling waves, $17,250.

The jade section highlights were a cased scholar’s set inspinach green, $9,600, a white jade figure group with a ram and twoewes, $8,050, and a white jade teapot in three lobed fruit form for$7,475. An exquisite gold, diamond, enamel and pearl necklacebrought $9,200 and a set of four cloisonné enamel panels sold for$9,000.

All prices quoted include the 15 percent buyer’s premium.

For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com.