T he Arts d’Asie auction achieved almost nearly €9 million, with very good results for Chinese decorative art and Buddhist statuary, including an imperial seal commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor of China in 1795, which sold for €2.2 million. A Parisian collection of jades, totaling €1.7 million, tripled its estimate. A superb 18th-century cloisonné elephant (lot 42, €819,000), and two rare 13th-century Tibetan sculptures (lot 48-49, €378,000 and €315,000) were among the highest bids of the sale.
The imperial seal commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor, discovered in the home of a French family, sold for €2,213,000. Kept for more than thirty years out of sight, it appeared for the first time at auction. This historically significant seal commemorates the emperor's retirement from power after 60 years of rule.
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This Parisian collection of Chinese jades was formed from the 1960s and up to the 1980s, both at public auctions and from historical dealers in the field of Chinese art such as Spink & Son, Ltd. in London. Several letter exchanges between the collector and Anthony du Boulay, the latter explaining for instance how hard he had to fight to win the Yuan-Ming dynasty horse from the Northwick Park collection [Lot 11], well illustrate the great connoisseurship and collecting enthusiasm for Chinese art during that time in Europe.
本巴黎玉器收藏由現藏家祖父母於 1960 年代初至 1980 年代中期在倫敦拍賣會以及著名中國骨董商如 Spink & Son, Ltd. 中購得，其與多位重要中國藝術史學者密切交流。在與安東尼·杜·布萊的書信往來中，他如數家珍地描述了拍賣時激烈的競標局面，如元明時期的黃玉小馬[lot 11]。這些書信見證了這段期間歐洲藏家對中國藝術品知識和熱情。
Other private collections in the sale include a magnificent European collection of Buddhist sculptures, cloisonné works, archaic bronzes and porcelains (Lots 16-85). Assembled with passion over the last twenty years, this eclectic collection counts amongst its highlights a sumptuous cloisonné enamel elephant, great archaic bronzes, and several important examples of Buddhist Asian sculpture, including an extraordinary 16th century mask of Bhairava (Lot 63).
下列拍品由藏家經十五多年精心集成，來自拍賣會及知名亞洲藝術商，包括比利時的Marcel Nies 及摩納哥的 41 畫廊等。藏家周遊列國多年，並通過禪修領悟佛家教義，認爲此刻正是釋出所珍的時間，依從佛教不爲外物牽絆的宗旨。藏家多年以來對這些藝術精品珍而重之，這次釋出收藏，盼望能供同好共賞。
John Barnett was an eclectic dealer and collector of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art, Renaissance bronzes, medieval artefacts and Tribal art. Among the important works of art that he handled during his career was the renowned 13th century gilt copper standing Nepalese Buddha, known colloquially as ‘Superman’ that was eventually sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 2ndDecember, lot 2902 for HKD 80,200,000. John’s connoisseur’s appreciation for fine and rare Asian sculpture and painting is seen in the beautifully painted 16th century Tibetan thangka depicting Sakya hierarchs, lot 106, and in the rare and early bronze Kurukulla from the Western Himalayas, lot 121, one of the only known examples of this iconography from the region.
Several interesting archaic bronze vessels spanning over fifteen century of Chinese antique history, including a rare ritual goblet, jia, from the early Shang dynasty (16th century - ca. 1050 century BC), will provide an interesting focus on the stylistic evolution of the ritual and domestic bronze vessels in China.
The sale includes several examples of the unrivalled quality of the decorative arts produced under imperial supervision at the Qing court, including rare examples of imperial lacquer furniture, enamels and cloisonné enamels.
The sale features some exceptional examples of Buddhist statuary, spanning over 800 years of Chinese art history.
