At Christie’s, 303 lots of Chinese export art were offered at  auction recently, with 239 lots sold to a packed room and busy  phone lines.   The grand total for the day was $2.26 million, making the auction  85 percent sold by value.   “It was a thrilling day for Chinese export as lot 98, the  important pair of soldier vases with the arms of Philip V of  Spain, circa 1740, soared to $307,200, setting a world auction  record for Chinese armorial porcelain,” said Becky MacGuire, the  firm’s specialist in Chinese export art. “Bidders also competed  fiercely for classic Kangxi period blue and white and famille  verte porcelains from the collections of Alexander Saunderson and  Deane F. Johnson, both formed in America in the postwar era. We  were pleased to see that throughout the sale bidders and buyers  hailed from Asia, Europe, North and South America.”   Other highlights at the auction include two soldier vases and  covers with the arms of Valdes y Tamón, one Chinese, circa 1740,  the other Samson Porcelain, Nineteenth Century, selling for  $138,000; as well as a lovely pair of Canton famille rose urns  and covers, circa 1820, which brought $45,600.   A large hunting bowl from the last quarter of the Eighteenth  Century sold at $48,000; a grisaille shipping bowl, circa 1785,  sold for $36,000; and a rare Fables punch bowl, circa 1795,  hammered down at $42,000. Additionally, an interesting pair of  cockatiels from the Jiaqing period brought $52,800.   Dinner services also attracted a great deal of interest. An  assembled blue Fitzhugh dinner service from the first quarter of  the Nineteenth Century sold for $38,400; a set of Pronk porcelain  dinner and soup plates, circa 1738, brought $33,600; and a Canton  famille rose initialed dinner service, first quarter Nineteenth  Century, sold for $132,00.   All prices include a 191/2 percent buyer’s premium.
 
    



 
						