Strong results in Asian Art sale
Strong sales of Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian Art have been recorded by London auctioneers Rosebery’s in their recent Asian Art sale.
The star lot of the sale was a pair of rare lemon yellow glazed bowls of exceptional quality, bearing the Yongsheng mark, selling for £80,000. The pair of shallow bowls have gently rounded sides and slightly everted rims, with straight footrim and recessed, slightly convex base with an underglaze blue six-character mark within a double ring.
Head of Department, Bill Forrest commented: “Emperor Yongzheng’s reign (1722-1732) saw important developments in porcelain decorating and manufacture. Some of the very finest Chinese porcelain was produced during this time, so it came as no surprise that they were the highest selling lot.”
Elsewhere in the sale, a private collection of Chinese paintings secured the following results:
- A 17th century scroll painting by an unknown artist sold for £29,500. Finely painted on silk, it depicted a traveller riding on horseback through a wooded landscape.
- An album of twelve watercolours by Ming dynasty artist and scholar Wei Zhike, sold to a phone bidder for £24,600.
- Twenty fine paintings on silk, each depicting five butterflies amidst the auspicious lingzhi fungus. This sold for £15,400.
Other highlights in the sale, included:
- A Qianlong period cloisonné and gilt bronze stem cup and cover sold to a phone bidder for £9,900.
- A huali wood two-door cupboard carved with auspicious objects sold for £12,100.
- Three Edo period woodblock prints by the famed artist Katsushika Hokusai from the series Views of Mount Fuji, were hotly contested, and sold to a phone bidder for £22,000.
- A 17th-century Japanese painted tortoiseshell table top cabinet sold for £16,000