Auctions: Philadelphia auction features Far Eastern art - Philadelphia Daily News
Posted on Fri, Aug. 26, 2011
It has already released the print catalog for the event, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at its gallery at 1808 Chestnut St. And it has announced that at least one of the more than 800 lots, a Chinese incised celadon jade book bearing the date 1782, has a six-figure presale price estimate: $200,000 to $400,000. The date would put it in the Qianlong emperor's reign from 1736 to 1795, the same era as the million-dollar vase.
Aside from the price it is expected to bring, the book, consisting of 10 tablets incised with Chinese characters on both sides, is fascinating for its origin, as described in the $30 color-illustrated catalog (also accessible online at www.freemansauction.com).
The date suggests it was part of a project commissioned by the Qianlong emperor to create a comprehensive encyclopedia containing all known relevant examples of Chinese history, philosophy, classics, and poetry. Compilation of all the approved texts began in 1773 and when finished nearly 10 years later had more than 79,000 chapters.
(The 18th century was a popular time for encyclopedias. Around 1747, Denis Diderot assumed leadership of a project called Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of Science, Arts, and the Trades, that was completed in 1751. The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was published over a three-year period, beginning in 1768 and ending in 1771.)
The book, whose consignor Freeman's declined to identify, is one of more than 30 lots with presale estimates of five figures or more. Another standout item is a Chinese glazed porcelain centerpiece with a presale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000 that actually looks French because of its Louis XV ormolu mounts.
Molded around 1740 in the shape of a rock formation rising out of waves from which a three-legged toad emerges, it might have looked more Chinese when new. According to the catalog description, it probably had at its top the figure of Liu Hai.
Liu Hai was either a government official or a god of wealth who in either case befriended a three-legged toad and kept it in thrall with a line baited with golden coins. The centerpiece was previously sold at Christie's in October 2006.
Other top sale items: A 12 3/8-inch Ming Dynasty porcelain jar from a New Jersey consignor and previously the property of a Swedish missionary family ($50,000 to $80,000); a Qianlong white jade cylinder with sutras (Buddhist prayers) in a hardwood box ($40,000 to $60,000); an 18th-century, 18 -inch-high Chinese carved soapstone figure of an immortal ($30,000 to $50,000); a rare set of eight Chinese simulated coral glass figures representing the number of immortals in Taoist belief ($15,00 to $30,000); and a Chinese celadon jade covered vase from a Philadelphia consignor that formerly was in the Widener family collection ($10,000 to $15,000).
At a more affordable level, the auction features several lots originally from the estate of Ida Pruitt, an author and Chinese scholar who was born in China in 1891 to Baptist missionaries and died in Philadelphia in 1985. The most prominent of them is a single lot of four white jade miniature carvings ($800 to $1,200).
The first 120 lots consist of snuff bottles, all being offered without reserve, that come from Ohio, Philadelphia, and Florida collections. Most have presale estimates in the high three-figure to low four-figure range.
The last 144 lots are from what the catalog calls a "prolific" New Jersey collector and are also being offered without reserve. They include some fine images of Hindu and Buddhist deities, generally at moderate prices.
An Indian copper grouping of the popular deity Ganesha dating to around 1300 A.D., for instance, has a presale estimate of $500 to $800. On the other hand, a presale estimate of $8,000 to $10,000 is being given for an 18th-century gilt bronze Sino-Tibetan figure of the death god Yama and his consort.
Previews are from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 7-9. For further information, call 215-563-9275.
More Asian goods and Asian antiques will be featured by Gordon S. Converse & Co. at the first session of its two-day sale Sept. 9-10 at the People's Light & Theater Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. The second session will offer vintage clocks, fine arts, and furniture. Both sessions start at 10:30 a.m., with online bidding already available at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Most of the 245 lots to be offered in the Asian session have three-figure presale estimates, but a few should bring considerably more. A Yuan Dynasty (1271 to 1368 A.D.) vase with a flared mouth and a dragon coiling between it and the vase's base has a presale estimate of $5,000 to $8,000.
A 19th-century carved ivory figure of Quan Ying, a deity sometimes identified as the goddess of mercy, has a presale estimate of $7,000 to $12,000.
Rare and vintage clocks will dominate the Sept. 10 session. Among the more than 120 to be offered are a 19th-century mahogany-cased regulator clock with a five-legged gravity escapement, made by Wainmann of Howden, England, with a presale estimate of $8,500 to $12,500, according to a Converse release, and a 34-inch early banjo timepiece in the original "crossbanded" style, with a mahogany case attributed to Simon Willard ($6,000 to $12,000).
The session opens with furniture, artwork, and miscellaneous items, notably a violin made around 1900 and designed to be a copy of a Stradivarius ($500 to $2,500) and an astronomer's refracting telescope attributed to W&D Mogey with a presale estimate of $600 to $900.
Previews: 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 8 and 8:30 a.m. to sale time Sept. 9-10. For further information, call 610-722-9004 or e-mail Gordon@ConverseClocks.com.
Contact David Iams at daiams@comcast.net.
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