Scheduled during the week of Asian sales in New York, Doyle’s Asian Works of Art auction on Monday, September 11 at 10am presents the arts of China, Japan and Southeast Asia from the Neolithic Period through the 20th century. Offerings include porcelain, pottery, jade, scholar’s objects, bronzes, screens, furniture and paintings.
Highlighting the sale is property from a Private Minneapolis Collection. Comprising 23 lots, the Collection is particularly rich in Chinese jades and Khmer and Sino-Tibetan bronzes.
The sale also offers approximately fifty Chinese snuff bottles from two private collections. Highlights include a crystal snuff bottle, 1850-1900, inside painted by Wang Xisan,1968, with a scene of small huts nestled along a riverbank, height 2 3/4 inches (est. $5,000-7,000). Another inside painted glass snuff bottle, 19th century, depicts a scholar and his assistant, Gui Xianguu,
standing near a lake in a landscape and the reverse with calligraphy, height 2 1/2 inches (est.
$5,000-7,000). Other sale highlights include a Chinese aloeswood ‘Chenxiangmu’ brushpot from the Qing Dynasty carved with a continuous scene of scholars in various pursuits surrounded by craggy rockwork, plantain and potted vessels, height 6 3/8 inches (est. $30,000-50,000).
The public is invited to the exhibition on view from Friday, September 8 through Sunday,
September 10. Doyle is located at 175 East 87th Street in Manhattan. For more information, please visit Doyle.com.
A selection of highlights from the sale:
Property from a Private Minneapolis Collection
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000
Exhibited: Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, under long term loan.
The 18th century Sino-Tibetan gilt-bronze figure of Shadakshari Lokeshvara is depicted seated in dhyanasana on a lotus base. Shadakshari-Lokeshvara is the four-armed manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and is often regarded as the patron deity of Tibet. In this example, the deity’s principal hands are held before the heart in the anjalimudra of respectful salutation, with the two outer hands holding the bhodi bead from a rosary representing enlightenment, and the lotus flower of purity.
The four-armed bodhisattva seated in dhyanasana on a lotus base, the primary hands in anjali mudra and the secondary hands holding a rosary and lotus flower, clad in a dhoti with incised hems secured with a beaded belt, adorned with anklets, bracelets, necklaces, and disk-shaped earrings, the serene face with heavy lidded eyes beneath a foliate tiara, the hair in a high chignon and secured with a finial. Height 8 inches.
Property from a Private Minneapolis Collection
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000
The box is notable for its construction utilizing naturalistically carved branches to skillfully interlock both halves. The peach (shoutao) is the fruit of immortality, and the bat (fu) is a pun for blessings. Together they represent a wish to possess both blessings and immortality
Naturalistically carved as a large peach, borne on a gnarled stem issuing an abundance of unfurling leaves and scattered floral blooms and buds, the branch extending up and around the fruit and worked to link the box and cover together, the cover with two large bats resting on the stems, the stone an even tone with caramel brown and russet inclusions, fitted wood stand and silk covered box. Length 5 3/4 inches.
Property from a Private Minneapolis Collection
Estimate: $15,000 - $25,000
The rounded sides formed by overlapping lotus petals, raised on a low foot formed by three furled petals, the side set with a Buddha seated on a double lotus throne flanked by two worshiping Luohan, the domed lid pierced and carved in openwork with a band of lotus blooms and scrolling foliage, surmounted by a bud-form finial, the stone a creamy white tone with russet and chestnut veining. Diameter 4 1/2 inches.
Signed Qi Baishi, inscribed 'A Rich and Noble Family'
Two seals Ink and color on paper
Image 37 1/2 x 13 1/8 inches, Framed
Estimate: $40,000 - $50,000