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T he entire sweep of Sotheby’s EYE/EAST covers 5000 years of art history, ranging from Neolithic to contemporary, and including works avant-garde Japanese calligraphy, ancient Buddhist sculpture, classical ink painting, and abstract expressionist art. The diverse art of the East encompasses such a vast area, unified by powerful schools of thought which provided fertile ground from which art could take root: archaic bronzes, jades, ceramics, landscapes and poetry, woodblock prints, scholars’ rocks, calligraphy, and modernist art. Given the breadth, the notion of a single “Eastern aesthetic” is elusive, and any attempt to pinpoint such a monolithic concept would be somewhat futile. Perhaps what may be more intriguing, however, are the strands that course through and connect many of the different works, that together create an almost indefinable quality that is nevertheless distinctive.
In painting, discussions of the ways artists from Asia express the world in their work, aesthetic preferences and influences are often set in contrast with European and other Western traditions, with a boundary sometime before the mid-nineteenth century. While the tradition of painting in Asia enjoys a long and distinguished history, its modern chapter is equally as impressive particularly as it asserts unique taste and sensibility that simultaneously incorporates and sets it apart from Western influences.
Renowned in Paris during his time a hundred years ago, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita’s art is a refined embodiment of East and West. In 2019, all works by Foujita presented at Sotheby’s was sold, a testament to the exceptional draw of his art. His 1950s oil masterpiece Printemps is a leading highlight among an array of fantastic paintings executed on paper, and the brilliance of this modern master shines through once again.
Hailed in Japan as an ‘Expressionist master of the Orient’, Pang Jiun’s oil paintings are colourful as well as ravishingly beautiful, infused into them the spirit of ink-and-wash. His View from the Mandarin was inspired by his 2018 stay in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong in preparation for his solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Exchange Square. Romantic, contemporary in atmosphere and ever imaginative, this work was inspired by the beautiful Victoria Harbour.
Ai Xuan’s paintings on Tibetan subjects sets this artist apart. His Warm Winter in Anqu Village was completed in 2013, with his freely expressive use of ink and colour rather than his usual oil paint. The work brings to life the quiet poetic atmosphere for the snow-covered wilderness, demonstrating the artist’s ascent to new creative heights.
New generation Chinese artist Ren Zhe impressed many with his major solo exhibition at the Beijing Palace Museum, the youngest ever artist to have exhibited at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. His Alicorn is a figurative depiction of a soaring unicorn, carrying his wish to excel in his creative career. The original conceptual painting contrasts brilliantly with the sculpture when viewed together.
Chloe Ho’s cultural background transcends all boundaries, rendering distinctions between East and West entirely arbitrary. With abstract artistic language that is fresh, handsome and confident, her works were selected for the design of Rosewood Hotel Hong Kong’s visual identity. Ashmore Museum at Oxford University and New Hall Art Collection at Cambridge University acquired her works in their collections. Midnight Blooms is among her works highly regarded by major institutions and museums.
Another outstanding young artist to watch in the sale is Chen Yingjie, whose works are passionate and dramatic, infusing abstract and figurative to create new visual representations of the Chinese civilisation. In Breaking – Loong Series II, his heroic ambition, intense as a burning flame, is exhilarating. When placed alongside ancient works in the same sale, a profound conversation emerges between different eras.
Works of art, heirlooms and artefacts from times long past, reveal an awareness and understanding of nature and cultures that existed long before us. Through the lens of EYE-EAST are selected extraordinary objects that present such a microcosm of Eastern aesthetics and beauty, which unveil the facets and textures from Asia.
Embodied in an enigmatic jade mask, the icy blue hue of an exquisite glaze, the gentle curve of a vessel, the sensuous full smile of a Bodhisattava, or the deliciously gnarled texture of a carved prunus branch – these delights not only whet the appetite for discovery but also hint at narratives of long-ago mysteries and flights of imagination.
- Jade Animal Mask
- Snowflake-Blue
- Guanyao Pear-Shaped Vessel
- Avalokiteshvara
- Soapstone Mountain
- Bamboo 'Prunus'
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A Jade 'Toothed Animal Mask' Ornament, Green Jade 'Face Pendant'NEOLITHIC PERIOD, HONGSHAN CULTURE
First worked from a pale beige and brown stone, crisply decorated in openwork as a monster mask plaque with the lower edge centred with a row of teeth.
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An Extremely Rare 'Snowflake-Blue' Incense BurnerMARK AND PERIOD OF XUANDE
No other snowflake-blue censer of this form appears to be recorded, and the 'snowflake-blue' glaze as well as this shape are also outstandingly rare on their own. This glaze represents one of the most spectacular and surprising developments of the Ming imperial kilns in the Xuande period.
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An Exceptionally Rare Guanyao Barbed Pear-Shaped VaseSOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY
This extraordinary vase, modelled with generous proportions marked by well-defined barbed outlines, is an extremely rare embodiment of the ideals of Song (960-1279) court aesthetics in its understated simplicity that veils the depth of expertise and skill required in creating such a vessel.
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A Marble Head of AvalokiteshvaraTANG DYNASTY
Sensitively carved as the sensuous full face of the Bodhisattava, portrayed with slender almost half-closed eyes beneath arched eyebrows exquisitely depicted with fluidly carved lines tapering at the ends, the small bud mouth with soft contours and superbly rendered pursed into a faint smile. The work exudes influence from the stylised iconography of the Northern Wei dynasty and is a remarkable testament to the renaissance of statuary in China at the beginning of the seventh century.
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A Soapstone MountainQING DYNASTY
Skillfully carved in high relief with a seated scholar reading next to his attendant, beside a flowing river sheltered among pitted irregular rockwork, the jagged rock faces lightly incised with leafy shrubs, the stone of a golden caramel-brown tone.
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A Superbly Carved Bamboo 'Prunus' InkrestQING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY
Delicately rendered on one side in shallow relief with blossoming prunus branches clambering over a curled section of a gnarled tree bark, the reverse echoing the prunus motif and skillfully detailed in openwork with gnarled branches bearing prunus blooms.
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Calligraphy may be one of the most quintessentially Eastern of all artistic traditions – one that is highly diverse with manifold dimensions. To take an example from classical Chinese calligraphy and painting, the aesthetics of Song and Yuan dynasties differs dramatically from those of the Ming and Qing. If the spirit of the earlier dynasties sought a harmonic existence between heaven and mankind, then Ming and Qing pursued the ultimate expression of literati elegance and refinement, hence calligraphy and painting merged inextricably, expressing through the ink the artist’s temperament and poetic style.
EYE-EAST presents a diverse range of works to suggest a broader appreciation of classical Chinese calligraphy and painting. It is a feast for the imagination, and those who pay particular attention will be rewarded with the rare and unexpected delights, including He Shaoji’s Poem in Running Script and highlights from other literati masters, plus a set of calligraphy fan leaves from a distinguished private collection.
Born in Chaling, Hunan Province, in 1889, Tan Zekai (1889-1948), specialized in xingkai script, incorporating Chinese calligraphy xing running script and kai regular script. He studied under the tutelage of Weng Tonghe, He Shaiji, Qian Feng, Shangsu, while his stylistic origin traces back to Yan Zhenqing. Tan was also an accomplished poet and painter as well as an avid collector, with an outstanding collection of important Qing dynasty calligraphy works, including exceptional pieces by Qian Feng, Liu Yong, He Shaoji and Weng Tonghe. His collection included over a thousand pieces from different schools and styles, accumulated over several decades, making his calligraphy collection the biggest among overseas collectors.
