Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, June 2024.
I hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer.
I had a busy time visiting Paris for the Printemps Asiatique, which has become a well established week of exhibitions, lectures, tours and auctions on the international calendar. This year it included an exhibition and conference at the Guimet Museum entitled Couer de la Couleur, which featured many great monochrome ceramics from the collection of Richard Kan, alongside those from the Guimet.
I was also able to view three of the sales in Paris and I had helped a client consign some pieces to the Sotheby’s Art D’Asia sale on 14 June.
During June I was asked to help vet the second Treasure House fair held at the Royal Hospital grounds in Chelsea. I very much enjoyed this experience and the quality of the exhibits.
In early August I was fortunate to be involved in a handling session at the Victoria and Albert Museum ceramics gallery with three colleagues for the Oriental Ceramics Society.
I wish everyone a prosperous and successful autumn season and look forward to seeing some of you over this period.
Best wishes,
Robert Bradlow, September 2024.
01 June – Christie’s Hong Kong sale of the battle scene: The Capture of the Chief Traitor Shi Dakai, with its Imperial Decree
On 01 June Christie’s offered this monumental Tongzhi period (1862-1875) battle scene in its last series of sales at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. Last week, they began holding sales at their new venue at the Henderson.
I was approached some time previously by a client in South Africa to investigate the painting and assess its value. In January this year the client decided to sell it and chose to offer it at Christie’s Hong Kong.
Around the 13th of May Christie’s website was unfortunately hacked, which left it with minimal functioning ability. This was of quite some concern to my client, but Christie’s were able to effectively use social media in the run up to the sale and the site was fully functioning well before the day of the sale.
There had considerable interest in the piece during the viewing and the bidding was spirited as it was opened by the auctioneer. The bidding lasted for over five minutes, which had begun at HK$1.5m and was over the HK$3m upper estimate quite quickly, with multiple bidders on the telephone. It finally sold for HK$8.82m.
11 June – Musee Guimet, Paris, Exhibition and Conference: Couer de la Couleur, the joint exhibition of monochrome ceramics from the collection of Richard Kan and the Guimet Museum
I travelled to Paris in early June for the annual Printemps Asiatique, which this year included a much anticipated joint exhibition of monochrome ceramics from the collection of Richard Kan and the Musée Guimet.
Richard Kan began collecting at the age of 29 and his first purchase was a Yixing teapot, which he purchased at Sotheby’s. The name of his collection is Zhuyuetang (‘Pavilion of Bamboo and the Moon’), which is a tribute to his forebears, who established the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company in 1907 at the end of the Qing dynasty.
Richard Kan was educated in Hong Kong and England and was successful in a career in engineering and land development. Kan’s collecting grew in the 1990s and in 1995 he was invited to join the prestigious Min Chiu Society – a select group of top Hong Kong collectors.
During the dialogue between Richard Kan and Henry Howard-Sneyd of Sotheby’s, I asked Richard if he had ever collected polychrome or blue and white wares, to which he answered yes. However he decided early on that his focus would be on monochrome ceramics, which he now owns between 400 and 500.
One interesting point that Richard Kan made was that when his business interests had problems or the share market was in turmoil, he would often sit down with some of his monochromes, which would give him a real sense of calm and allow him to escape into another world of beauty and colour.
The conference, which was held on the 12th of June featured some interesting lectures, which opened with Regina Krahl on Secret Colour – Chinese Celadons and Peter Lam – Imperial Colour, Three Case Studies of Chinese yellow glazes.
During my stay in Paris, I viewed the exhibition three times. On my second visit, after the conference, I managed to view it when it was quite quiet and as I walked through the various galleries (which were laid out by colour), I got a sense of what Richard Kan meant by a calming almost serene effect from the exhibits.
With this in mind, this article is going to be mainly a visual one with only captions to the images, which I believe will best convey the experience. As it is said – a picture can paint a thousand words.
13 June – Paris Printemps Asiatique Exhibitions at the CT Loo Pagoda
Whilst I was in Paris, I returned to the CT Loo Pagoda, where a number of local and international dealers were holding their annual exhibition at this impressive venue.
I enjoyed a number of contemporary exhibits, foremost of which was the large triptych work by Lee Hyun Joung (b.1972), a Korean artist based in Paris. This work entitled Symphonie en Trois Mouvements, 2023 was being exhibited by the Louis and Sack Gallery and was really strikingly painted with beautifully formed repeating patterns reminiscent of waves.
On the first floor I enjoyed the exhibition of contemporary ceramics which was held by Gallerie Hioco. One particularly sculpture that caught my eye was the work entitled Oroshi 16-46 by the Japanese artist Kino Satoshi (b. 1987).
The word Oroshi translates as ‘strong wind down a mountain slope’ and the delicate edges to the work refer to the violence of the wind and the pale celadon blue colour of the glaze represents the cold on the skin.
Next to this piece was two works by Yukiya Izumita (b. 1966), the leading ceramicist of Japan’s northeast Tohoku arts region. He uses origami paper techniques to construct layered sculptures. Izumita’s works resemble the strange and natural bluff rock formations of the unrelenting northern environment.
The top floor of the pagoda is a large open space that exhibited works from Greg Baker Asian Art and Galerie Kiyama (Yumekoubou). The exhibits varied from painted screens to Buddhist sculpture and contemporary art.
The pieces looked particularly striking against the deep red walls that were naturally lit from above by the ornate panelled ceiling that was based on archaic bronze decoration.
14 June – Sotheby’s Paris Art D’Asia
In January 2020 I visited a client in Munich, who I had known for some time whilst I worked at Sotheby’s London. We spent the day at his place in the country and the following morning at his apartment in the city.
Not wishing to appear too pushy on my first visit, I did not take any photographs and composed the valuation later from memory whilst the pieces were still fresh in my mind. I really enjoyed seeing this client’s collection, as he has a real love of Chinese ceramics and essentially purchased what he liked.
Part of the collection of early pieces, including a couple of significant stone sculptures from the Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD), were inherited from his father. This must have had an early influence on the direction of his collecting. The strength of the collection was in its various Song dynasty wares, as well as blue and white 17th century and 18th century imperial porcelain.
The client was visited by the specialist from Sotheby’s Paris – Christian Bouvet, in March and a selection of pieces was made for the 14 June auction.
The pieces were offered in two sections, one in the morning, which comprised mainly the Song and Yuan wares. But the highlight lot of this section was lot 55, an important Northern Wei dynasty carved limestone standing figure of Buddha. It had originally come from the collection of Friedrich Alfred Schmid Noerr (1877-1969) and was acquired from him by the owner’s father in January 1963. It was estimated €80,000-120,000 and sold for €144,000.
The afternoon section featured works of art and later ceramics from the 17th to 20th century. The two sections totalled 44 lots and sold for €361,080 against a €337,000 low estimate, with 70% sold by lot.
26 June – Vetting the Treasure House Fair, London
On the 26th of June I was involved in vetting the Chinese pieces at the second Treasure House fair held at the Chelsea Hospital grounds. The fair was slightly larger this year with around 30% more exhibitors and the quality of the exhibits was consistently high.
The stands of Michele Beiny of New York, Crane Kalman Gallery of London and Maison D’Art of Monaco were particularly colourful and the former consisted of exhibits from a monumental mid 19th century Sèvres coupe decorated with brightly painted roses, to contemporary glass and ceramics. The latter with old master paintings, and brightly coloured contemporary floral works by the American artist Carlos Rolón.
Of the Asian art dealers, Malcolm Fairly & Grace Tsumugi’s stand was particularly impressive, with some beautiful gold lacquer and Meiji Period (168-1912) metalwork.
The most outstanding exhibit on this stand, was a silk embroidered screen with a falcon by Iiada Shnshiki IV (1853-1910) for Takashimaya Co, which we voted as the most outstanding Asian exhibit of the fair. Another notable exhibit was the gold lacquer writing box decorated with three children beneath a pine tree. This is worked to the highest quality and looked to be in pristine condition.
At the Sydney Moss stand, I enjoyed looking at the Chinese works of art in their outward facing wall cabinet. The work that really struck me was the bamboo brushpot carved in high relief with eight horses with their grooms, dated 1671.
Michael Goedhuis’s stand had an interesting selection of Chinese and Japanese bronzes exhibited together with Chinese contemporary works.
One of my favourite pieces at the fair was on the stand of Thomas Coulborn & Sons from Sutton Coldfield. This was the unusual late 18th century Chinese export seven-tiered black, gilt, green and red lacquer pagoda. It came with its own fitted silk lined leather case and each level comprised a box and cover.
Each box was finely decorated to the sides and cover with retreats in idyllic rocky river landscapes. I think that this is one piece that I would have liked to have taken home!
My other pick of the fair and at the same stand and was this magnificent Renaissance 16th century South German (probably Augsburg) ivory inlaid casket. The quality of the animal inlaid decoration is first class and is incredibly striking against its dark wood ground.
From the same stand again was these really rare and unusual Anglo Indian rosewood throne chairs, circa 1820 to 1830. They are both ornately carved in relief with leaf and floral motifs. It is believed that they were made in Lahore, Punjab and they are quite unusual in design.
I think that one of the striking things of the fair was the sheer variety of the exhibits, which included top quality paintings, but being an objects person, my focus in this article has been primarily on three dimensional works. Most of which were man made.
However, the exception to this was the exceptional exhibits at the Stone Gallery stand, which consisted of large crystal clusters, rock structures and unusual fossils.
One last piece I have to mention was a beautifully ivory inlaid Anglo Indian kneehole desk. Dating to the mid 18th century, desks like this are particularly rare. The ivory inlay is intricately worked in leaf and floral motifs which are then engraved and inked in black to create a really striking effect.
Furniture of this style was made in Vizagapatam, a port on the Bay of Bengal, halfway between Calcutta in the north east and Madras in the south west.
31 July – Bishop and Miller November Auction of Chinese Ceramics
On Wednesday 31st of July I travelled down to Stowmarket in Suffolk as I had been asked by Oliver Miller at Bishop and Miller Auctioneers to look at some Chinese pieces that had been consigned for their November sale.
There were two collections, one from a private English client, which consisted of imperial Ming and Qing ceramics, three examples of which were rather rare.
The first was a Yongzheng mark and period yellow ground green ‘dragon’ bowl, which was nicely potted and had a bright and thickly applied yellow enamel ground. The mark was really well rendered to the base. There was unfortunately a polished chip to the rim (4cm long), so a sensible estimate of £8,000-12,000 was appropriate.
The second piece was a rare and rather large Kangxi mark and period green enamelled bowl painted with two lively five-clawed dragons on an incised white ground. This piece felt really nice in the hand, but unfortunately this had suffered with some damage to the rim (repaired V-shaped section), so a similar estimate was recommended.
The third piece was a rare and unusual Wanli mark and period blue and white ‘dragon roundel’ bowl. I can’t say that I have ever handled a bowl of this type before and it is quite unusual with its bracket lobed rim. There was a small chip to the rim (6mm by 4mm) and a small hairline crack. The suggested estimate was £5,000-7,000.
The second collection featured a group of blue and white pieces from the late Ming dynasty from the Jiajing and Wanli periods.
I examined three Wanli period ‘Kraak’ dishes of varying size and decoration. The first had been purchased from Bernheimer Fine Art and was decorated to the centre with a scholar seated in front of a painted screen conversing with a boy holding a lotus flower in a vase. The second piece was somewhat larger at 51cm diameter and had been purchased from Solveig and Anita Gray. It featured two flying phoenix to the centre of the dish. The last was a similar size and painted with a number of ducks on a rocky outcrop. Unfortunately this example had some areas of restoration to the rim.
This collection also featured two blue and white jars, the first was quite a rare Wanli period one painted with flowers and Buddhist emblems. It was purchased from Ben Janssens in December 1998. It was in good condition and I guided it £2,500-3,000. The last piece was a Jiajing mark and period crane and trigrams rounded jar. This was nicely potted, but it had a small shallow chip (6mm by 2mm) to the rim, so a similar estimate seemed sensible.
31 July – Melford Hall, Suffolk
Later that same day I visited Melford Hall near Sudbury. Dr Cinta Krahe had given a lecture on the collection to the Oriental Ceramics Society a month before and as I was nearby, I decided to investigate.
Melford Hall was originally owned and lived in by the abbots of Bury St Edmunds. At this time in the 14th century, the manor was a productive farm. During the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 1530s, many properties like these were seized by the king and sold to nobles, landed gentry and wealthy merchants and lawyers.
William Cordell (1522-1581) was one of the latter and significantly altered the house to pretty much what we see today. In 1786 the house was sold to Sir Harry Parker, 6th Baronet, son of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet. Hyde Parker was a member of Commodore Anson’s circumnavigation of the globe in 1740.
In September 1762 Hyde Parker was captain of the HMS Panther in an expedition against the Spanish colony of Manila. The Spanish galleon the Santissima Trinidad had set out from Cavite in the Philippines to Acapulco in Mexico but had to return to Manila due to losing a mast in a severe storm. Not realising that Manila had fallen to the British, the Santissima Trinidad surrendered after a two hour battle with the Panther and the HMS Argo.
On board was a precious cargo of gold, ivory and precious Chinese porcelain. Although Hyde Parker never lived at Melford Hall, a large part of his share of the cargo including the Chinese export porcelain found its way to the house.
The most significant pieces in the house are the pair of large Qianlong period iron-red ‘phoenix’ ‘soldier’ vases and covers. Vases painted in iron-red in this design are rare and are more commonly seen in the famille rose palette. These vases sit half way up the grand staircase.
Above these vases is a gallery that runs each side of the staircase and further Chinese export porcelain has been placed between each column, with its pair to the opposite side. The most significant of these is a pair of Qianlong period famille rose ‘phoenix’ jars and covers.
The design of phoenixes is a theme that runs through most of the pieces of Chinese porcelain at Melford Hall and once can again see this design on large famille rose and iron-red dishes and vases in the library.
Other notable ceramics included a pair of large and unusual Kangxi period famille verte mounted bottle vases, decorated with mythical qilins in the blue drawing room and a large and unusual Qianlong period famille rose mandarin pattern punch bowl.
Beatrix Potter was a cousin of the family and often visited Melford Hall and spent time in the west bedroom where there remains some of her books and family photographs.
02 August – Handling session at the Victoria and Albert Museum
I and a small group of colleagues from the Oriental Ceramics Society were invited by Ricarda Brosch, the assistant curator of the Asian Department, East Asia section, to attend a handling session on her last day at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Ricarda was about to move to Hamburg with her family to take up her curatorial post at Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK).
We had put in a couple of requests prior to the session and we were thus really fortunate to handle some really interesting pieces. The first was a Xuande mark and period (1426-1435) monochrome blue glazed dish. This was a delight to hold in the hand as the glaze was a really consistent blue throughout and it was in remarkable condition considering that it was nearly six hundred old.
The next piece was a rare and unusual early Ming dynasty Yongle period (1402-1424) blue and white deep bowl. It was delicately painted to there interior with a band of scrolling flowers between various ornate bands. A similar one had sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2022, which had been discovered some time before in a garage sale in Connecticut.
The famille verte bowl of two mandarin ducks is a real classic piece and painted with such skill in depicting nature. It is most likely by the same hand that created a similar design on the well known ‘birthday plates’ that were made for Kangxi’s 60th birthday. It is somewhat surprising that there is no Kangxi mark to the base of this as it is easily considered to be of imperial quality.
A similar example sold last week in the Au Bak Lin auction, which was one of the Christie’s inaugural sales at the Henderson in Hong Kong.
The next piece we examined was the large nine dragon bottle vase with a Yongzheng mark. The dragons were nicely painted over a lighter blue wave ground. The design is quite dramatic with the dragons depicted in various lively poses.
One of the most detailed and highly ornate pieces that we examined was the Qianlong seal mark famille rose puce and yellow ground floral vase. The painting of the yellow ground bands and the central band is of the finest quality. In the main band, the leaves of the flowers are painted in translucent green and turquoise enamels, which is in contrast to the petals themselves, which are painted in opaque white, yellow, pink and blue enamels. It was a real treat to be able to handle this.
We then moved to a table behind in a corridor between the two rows of high glass cabinets in the ceramic gallery to examine some Ming dynasty yellow monochromes and some Qing dynasty polychrome wares.
This was a really memorable afternoon, which was enjoyed by all of us.
19 – 25 August – Visit to Seoul, South Korea
During later August, I travelled to South Korea for a second time to give clients of JP Gallery a tour of the Chinese collection of the Korea National Museum, a lecture on my time as head of the Chinese department at Sotheby’s London and some of the discoveries that I had made during my ten years there. This lecture can be viewed in the Latest News section of the website. Whilst there, I also undertook some valuations in Seoul, Busan, Daejeon and Daegu.
