Jewels of the Orient
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One of the most eagerly awaited sales of the year was the inaugural Eastern & Oriental Sale at Mallams in Cheltenham. This new addition to the Mallams auction calendar recognised the growing demand and increased interest for works of art from the Middle East and Asia. The November auction offered over 500 lots, including fresh-to-the-market property from local estates and included ceramics, textiles, paper hangings, prints, furniture, ivory, jade, cloisonné enamel, lacquer, carpets, bronzes and other works of art. With Asian art week in London the previous week plenty of the overseas buyers were in the country and with only one or two provincial salerooms offering this sort of auction it meant that all the dealers and collectors were able to focus on these specialist sales The sale did not disappoint. Of special note was a large pair of 19th Century Canton vases depicting extensive Chinese ceremonial scenes in bright enamel, with fo dog handles. This is a good example of how far this sector of the market has come in the past few years; five to ten years past they would have probably sold between £2,000-3,000. In the sale on 12th November, against an estimate of £5,000-7,000, they made £7,500 to a phone bidder from China, even though they had had some small restorations. This theme continued throughout the whole sale, and Chinese ceramics from the Kangxi (1661-1722) and Yong Zheng (1723-1735) periods were particularly sought after. An extremely finely potted Kangxi blue and white brush pot, with warrior decoration suffered from having a chip and sizeable hairline crack. Nevertheless, its quality shone through. With a four character Kangxi mark to the base which translated to ‘scholarship high as the mountain as the Great Bear’ it confirmed its quality and consequently surpassed its estimate and sold for £4,000. A similar period blue and white ginger jar also excited the dealers in Chinese works of art from London and abroad. Nine telephone bidders battled it out for supremacy and eventually the hammer fell to a Chinese buyer for £4,200. Nevertheless, it was not simply in the Ceramic section that high prices were achieved. Further highlights included a red lacquer 19th century Japanese picnic box of hexagonal form fetched £3,200, an Indian wrestler figure made £2,500 and an 18th century Chinese ivory netsuke in the form of a figure holding an octopus raised £2,100. The Chinese presence in the room dramatically pushed prices up, and in its wake caused a few surprises and also meant that a number of items with higher estimates, which could have struggled, sold. Yet it was a pair of Chinese bronze elephant stands, with auspicious double gourd hangers which produced the biggest surprise of the day. From a private collector, who bought them at auction ten to fifteen years ago for no more than £100, they sailed past their estimate of £100-200 and quickly rose with fierce bidding in the room to a remarkable £4,000. Yet the high prices were not simply limited to Chinese or Japanese Works of Art, there was also particularly strong bidding on Turkish and Middle Eastern lots. A Turkish Iznik Faience striped jug, circa 1620, topped this section of the sale. Although it had considerable restoration, its rarity ensured that there was fierce bidding between the trade in the room and dealers on the phone. Against a reasonable estimate of £800-1,200 the price dramatically escalated until the hammer fell at £6,500. Mallams auctioneer Philip Smith said: “There is no doubt that the interest for works of art from Asia continues to strengthen as evidenced by our recent sale which attracted international interest. Following the hugely positive response we have received, sales of Eastern and Oriental furniture and works of art will now be a regular fixture on Mallams auction calendar as we continue to develop this area as one of our many specialties.” |