As reported in last week’s issue (ATG No 2354), the threat of a 25% tariff on imported Chinese art and antiques (regardless of port of origin) will be discussed in Washington, DC this week – just ahead of a key moment in the Asian art selling calendar. It will, nevertheless, be business as usual.
Sales in New York often benefit from high-profile overseas consignments. Japanese collections of archaic bronzes and early Chinese ceramics have proved particularly lucrative in recent years.
Next month Christie’s will sell more of the Linyushanren collection, the array of vessels from the late Tang to the early Ming, assembled in Japan across three decades, that has done much to correct the financial gulf that existed between Song ceramics and the pomp of the Qing.
This fourth tranche (September 13) focuses on the varied wares associated with the Cizhou kilns in southern Hebei.
Christie’s holds eight AAW sales from September 11-14. A single-lot sale of a bronze ritual food vessel or gui from the early Western Zhou promises to be the financial highlight.
The Zuo Bao Yi Gui boasts a blue-chip provenance: from the collection of the Qianlong emperor it passed to many of the most famous collectors and dealers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Wu Dacheng, CT Loo, Edward T Chow and Bella and PP Chiu.
Junkunc collection
Sotheby’s five sales (September 12-15) feature a number of titled consignments, including Chinese Buddhist sculpture from the Junkunc family. A manufacturer of precision parts for aeroplanes, Stephen Junkunc III (d.1978) was also a well-known collector and art patron from the Chicago area who bought from dealers such as Bluetts, Sparks, Yamanaka, CT Loo and Nagatani.
Alongside a sale of Chinese works (September 10), Bonhams will devote two catalogues to Japanese and Korean art on September 12 while, elsewhere in the Big Apple, Doyle and Heritage are holding varied sales on September 10 and 11 respectively.
Those happy to leave Manhattan will find sales at Freeman’s of Philadelphia (September 7), Skinner in Boston (September 14) and Leslie Hindman in Chicago (September 17).
