An elaborately decorated Qianlong- dynasty porcelain vase sold tonight for a record 51.6 million pounds ($83 million) as Chinese buyers competed for Imperial- associated trophies at the âAsian Art in Londonâ event.
The 16-inch-high piece had been discovered during a routine house clearance in the suburb of Pinner, said Bainbridges, a west London auction house. It had estimated the vase to fetch between 800,000 pounds and 1.2 million pounds. The hammer price was 43 million pounds before 20 percent fees, making it the highest for any Chinese artwork sold at auction.
âEveryone was excited about this vase,â David Baker, one of the 37 dealers exhibiting at Asian Art in London, said in an interview. âItâs an exceptional Imperial piece in perfect condition with the most amazing reticulated decoration. Itâs exactly what Chinese buyers want at the moment.â
Asian bidders are prepared to pay ever-higher prices for rare objects associated with Chinese emperors. The vase beat the record for any Chinese work of art sold at auction, 436.8 million yuan ($65.95 million) paid for a 15-meter-long Song Dynasty scroll at Beijing Poly International Auction Co. Ltd. in June 2010.
Last month, an 18th-century Imperial vase was bought by the Chinese collector Alice Cheng for a record HK$252.7 million ($32.6 million) at Sothebyâs, Hong Kong. Asian art raised 245.5 million pounds of auction sales at Christieâs International in the first half, a 121 percent increase on the same period last year.
âAstonishingâ Artwork
âIâm thrilled that a provincial auction room can show what it can do,â Peter Bainbridge, director of the auction house, said in an interview after todayâs sale. âIâm also delighted to have handled such an astonishing work of art. I didnât quite realize how exciting it was.â
There were about 100 people in the saleroom -- which was cluttered with Victorian mahogany furniture -- including collector Robert Chang, the brother of the similarly named Alice Cheng, and Hong Kong dealer William Chak.
A bidding battle between six people in the room and three telephone bidders was won by a man who sat on a gilded sofa at the front of the room. The buyer, who refused comment after the sale, was a Beijing-based agent, according to Bainbridge.
Wares similar to the Bainbridges discovery were shown in the exhibition, âStunning Decorative Porcelains from the Chienlung Reign,â at the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, in 2008, said the auction house.
Nine Days
Hundreds of Asian dealers, collectors and their agents had flown in for Asian Art in Londonâs nine-day schedule of gallery exhibitions, museum shows, lectures and auctions.
The most valuable of the dealer exhibits was a Qing dynasty Imperial porcelain vase offered by the Mayfair-based dealer Eskenazi Ltd. with a price tag of about $25 million.
The vase, dating from the reign of the Emperor Yongzheng, is painted with a dragon in purple enamels. It is the sole survivor of a group of puce-decorated wares made in the Imperial palace, Beijing, from 1723 to 1735, Eskenazi said in its 50th anniversary catalog of a dozen museum-quality Chinese pieces spanning three millennia.
The Imperial rarity was one of five items sporting a red dot at the dealershipâs exhibition reception on Nov. 8.
âIt sold to an Asian buyer very close to the asking price,â gallery director, Giuseppe Eskenazi, said in an interview.
Jade Seal
Earlier today at Bonhams, an 18th-century white jade seal commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor sold for 2.7 million pounds ($4.3 million) to a Beijing-based buyer in the room against competition from two other Asian bidders.
The seal, carved with a dragon among cloud scrolls and bearing the inscription âSelf-Strengthening Never Ceases,â had been estimated to sell for as much as 3 million pounds, said Bonhams.
âThere is no other work of art with which the Emperor would have been as personally associated as with his personal seal,â Asaph Hyman, a senior specialist in Bonhamsâs Chinese art department, said on the companyâs website.
The auction record for a Chinese Imperial seal is the HK$121.6 million ($15.6 million) for a white jade example at Sothebyâs Hong Kong on Oct. 7.
Bonhamsâs seal had been in a European private collection since the 1960s. It is documented as having been made in 1793 for the Qianlong Emperorâs 80th birthday celebration and would have been used by the monarch to make impressions in the corners of his artworks, according to the catalog.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...e-imperial-seal-to-4-3-million-in-london.html
The 16-inch-high piece had been discovered during a routine house clearance in the suburb of Pinner, said Bainbridges, a west London auction house. It had estimated the vase to fetch between 800,000 pounds and 1.2 million pounds. The hammer price was 43 million pounds before 20 percent fees, making it the highest for any Chinese artwork sold at auction.
âEveryone was excited about this vase,â David Baker, one of the 37 dealers exhibiting at Asian Art in London, said in an interview. âItâs an exceptional Imperial piece in perfect condition with the most amazing reticulated decoration. Itâs exactly what Chinese buyers want at the moment.â
Asian bidders are prepared to pay ever-higher prices for rare objects associated with Chinese emperors. The vase beat the record for any Chinese work of art sold at auction, 436.8 million yuan ($65.95 million) paid for a 15-meter-long Song Dynasty scroll at Beijing Poly International Auction Co. Ltd. in June 2010.
Last month, an 18th-century Imperial vase was bought by the Chinese collector Alice Cheng for a record HK$252.7 million ($32.6 million) at Sothebyâs, Hong Kong. Asian art raised 245.5 million pounds of auction sales at Christieâs International in the first half, a 121 percent increase on the same period last year.
âAstonishingâ Artwork
âIâm thrilled that a provincial auction room can show what it can do,â Peter Bainbridge, director of the auction house, said in an interview after todayâs sale. âIâm also delighted to have handled such an astonishing work of art. I didnât quite realize how exciting it was.â
There were about 100 people in the saleroom -- which was cluttered with Victorian mahogany furniture -- including collector Robert Chang, the brother of the similarly named Alice Cheng, and Hong Kong dealer William Chak.
A bidding battle between six people in the room and three telephone bidders was won by a man who sat on a gilded sofa at the front of the room. The buyer, who refused comment after the sale, was a Beijing-based agent, according to Bainbridge.
Wares similar to the Bainbridges discovery were shown in the exhibition, âStunning Decorative Porcelains from the Chienlung Reign,â at the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, in 2008, said the auction house.
Nine Days
Hundreds of Asian dealers, collectors and their agents had flown in for Asian Art in Londonâs nine-day schedule of gallery exhibitions, museum shows, lectures and auctions.
The most valuable of the dealer exhibits was a Qing dynasty Imperial porcelain vase offered by the Mayfair-based dealer Eskenazi Ltd. with a price tag of about $25 million.
The vase, dating from the reign of the Emperor Yongzheng, is painted with a dragon in purple enamels. It is the sole survivor of a group of puce-decorated wares made in the Imperial palace, Beijing, from 1723 to 1735, Eskenazi said in its 50th anniversary catalog of a dozen museum-quality Chinese pieces spanning three millennia.
The Imperial rarity was one of five items sporting a red dot at the dealershipâs exhibition reception on Nov. 8.
âIt sold to an Asian buyer very close to the asking price,â gallery director, Giuseppe Eskenazi, said in an interview.
Jade Seal
Earlier today at Bonhams, an 18th-century white jade seal commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor sold for 2.7 million pounds ($4.3 million) to a Beijing-based buyer in the room against competition from two other Asian bidders.
The seal, carved with a dragon among cloud scrolls and bearing the inscription âSelf-Strengthening Never Ceases,â had been estimated to sell for as much as 3 million pounds, said Bonhams.
âThere is no other work of art with which the Emperor would have been as personally associated as with his personal seal,â Asaph Hyman, a senior specialist in Bonhamsâs Chinese art department, said on the companyâs website.
The auction record for a Chinese Imperial seal is the HK$121.6 million ($15.6 million) for a white jade example at Sothebyâs Hong Kong on Oct. 7.
Bonhamsâs seal had been in a European private collection since the 1960s. It is documented as having been made in 1793 for the Qianlong Emperorâs 80th birthday celebration and would have been used by the monarch to make impressions in the corners of his artworks, according to the catalog.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...e-imperial-seal-to-4-3-million-in-london.html
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