Asian art in Cotswolds saleroom

An array of rare Asian Art pieces – ranging from art and jewellery, to silver – will go under the hammer next month in the Cotswolds next month.

A collection of twenty 18th and early 19th-century jade carvings collected by the grandfather of a Cheltenham family in the early 20th Century are expected to realise overall between £35,000 and £40,000.

The carvings include:

• a piece depicting three kittens playing, which is set to realise £2,000-£3,000
• a heron with its head extended along its back with an estimated value of £4,000-£6,000
• a beetle on mushrooms set to reach £2,000-3,000
• a cup with carved leaves, a flowerhead base
• a bird handle worth £3,000-£5,000.

A pair of late Qing dynasty full tip rhinoceros horn libation cups, communal drinking vessels used during ceremonial occasions, will also be up for auction.

These have been consigned for sale by a client in Worcestershire, whose father had bought them from the owner of Powis Castle in the early 1940s. The cups with an estimated value of £60,000-£80,000, were beautifully carved in the middle of the 19th Century and depict figures and animals amongst foliage.