01 janvier 2008
Two massive blue and white porcelain covered jars - China, Kangxi Period
Two massive blue and white porcelain covered jars - China, Kangxi Period
Each of elongated ovoid form finished with a waisted neck and unglazed recessed base, painted in cobalt outline and wash with opposing figural reserves: one jar alternating panels of beauties and children in a European-style turreted castle with a battle scene involving two warriors on horse back; the other jar alternating the panels of beauties and children with an assembly of war tents, military and civil officials before a central figure standing on a draped dais; both jars also sharing identical strap bands filled with morning glory vines, descending lappet and roundel bands worked with palmetto leaf scrolls and 'one hundred antiques' filling the roundel to the top of each globular cover (one jar repaired). 40 1/2 and 41 1/4in (103 and 105cm) - Sold for $190,000 plus Premium and tax
Note: Massive blue and white porcelains of this type are popularly referred to as 'soldier jars,' recalling Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland whose love of Asian ceramics became legendary: in 1717 he exchanged six hundred soldiers from his army in return for over 150 Asian blue and white porcelains from Frederick William I, King of Prussia.
Similar pairs of covered jars are preserved in The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle and at Petworth House, The National Trust, West Sussex.
Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California
A Junyao shallow dish - China, Northern Song/Jin Dynasty, 12th Century
A Junyao shallow dish - China, Northern Song/Jin Dynasty, 12th Century
Potted with an upright rim finishing the shallow curving well and supported on a canted foot ring, the pale bluish-grey glaze displaying a web of craze lines, thinning to a grey-green around the rim and and the foot (repaired). 7 1/4in (18.5cm) diameter - Sold for $1,800 plus Premium and tax Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California
A carved limestone Buddhist stele - China Tang Dynasty
A carved limestone Buddhist stele - China Tang Dynasty
Depicting three Buddhas seated side by side in European style, each dressed in monk’s garments that fall in rhythmic folds across each body, the hair combed into two whorls fronting the remains of a low ushnisha rising from a head surrounded by five miniature seated Buddhas within a bodhi–leaf nimbus carved in shallow relief to the background of the leaf-shaped stele, the front base of the stele displaying four lines from a votive inscription and the reverse roughly finished (losses, traces of pigment). 35 3/4in (91cm) high - Sold for $100,000 plus Premium and tax
Provenance: Sotheby's London, 11 July 1978 sale, Lot 34, the characters in the inscription read as zhuan fa lun (turning the wheel of the law), xiang yi chu (one image), ci san (granting three). . . , fu hui (blessedness and wisdom). . .
Spink and Sons, London
Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California
A molded pottery mortuary figure of a demon - China, Han Dynasty
A molded pottery mortuary figure of a demon - China, Han Dynasty
The creature with huge ears and short horns framing a wide grimacing face molded standing as it holds a snake in one hand and an axe in the other, the surfaces covered with extensive burial earth (repaired); attached to a metal display stand. 39 3/4in (101cm) high overall - Estimate: $4,000 - 6,000 - Unsold.
Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California
A cast bronze covered dou - China Warring States Period
A cast bronze covered dou - China Warring States Period
The high-footed globular bowl with a pair of loop handles encircled by a rope-patterned band around the exterior wall that repeats on the curving walls of the cover and the flared rim of the finial, the surfaces covered with extensive green and blue patina as well as earthen adhesions (metal degraded). 7 1/8in (18cm) high - Estimate: $2,000 - 3,000
Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California