Date: Fri 30-Apr-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Asia

Full Text:

View From The Top

with cuts and sidebar "sacred symbols"

By Karla Klein Albertson

NEW YORK CITY -- While Asia Week -- as an expanded "happening" with two major

fairs and numerous related exhibitions -- draws ever more collectors to New

York during Christie's and Sotheby's spring sales, the plethora of offerings

around town ensures a more selective buyer and a highly competitive

environment for the people with money on the line.

The ancient Chinese, for example, seem to have manufactured a very large

number of pottery figures in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). During Asia Week,

visitors can examine hundreds on sale, then take the best and leave the rest.

Serious collectors look for the highest quality and most unusual pieces; those

hunting more decorative or modest items can shop for price.

Pottery figures are a good representation of the competition in town because

both Christie's and Sotheby's had important Tang pieces listed among their top

lots sold in the Chinese Works of Art auctions that, head to head, opened Asia

Week on March 22. In the following report, the directors of their Asian

divisions discuss some of the strengths of their sales.

Christie's

Theow-Huang is a senior vice president at Christie's and their international

director of Chinese works of art. In addition to their sale of Chinese

Ceramics, Paintings, and Works of Art, which brought in over $8 million, the

firm offered an auction of Japanese and Korean Art and another in Indian and

Southeast Asian works.

"We sold terribly well -- actually this was one of our best sales in a long

time."

I can talk mostly about Chinese ceramics, paintings, and works of art. I agree

that buying was selective. Obviously you have got to be selective when there

is so much around in this season with two fairs. But as long as you had good

things, these objects sold very well, which is exactly what happened here.

There was bidding from Asia, from Europe, from America -- truly international

bidding -- and bidding in all categories. Many of the people were [present],

but a lot of people bid on the phone.

The most expensive work of Asian art was a Thirteenth to Fourteenth Century

painting, `Travelers in Autumn Mountains, in the style of Guo Xi,' from a very

well-known American collection -- an extraordinary piece that fetched

$1,432,000.

So the classical paintings from the Junkunc Collection were very successful --

wonderful prices. And there was bidding from all over because they are sought

after by American and Asian collectors. There was certainly participation from

mainland China as well.

The second highest price of the sale, $530,500 for a pair of famille rose

yellow-ground Meiping vases, came from a private collection as well, a Chinese

collection in the United States. It was purchased by Eskenazi of London,

underbid by Asians and Americans. When you have a good item, everyone is

interested.

The kneeling courtier, lot 251, brought $442,500. It is very unusual to find

this particular posture -- we located, I believe, only one other example. This

was purchased by a European private collector with a Chinese underbidder, so

obviously people are very interested in quality.

The celadon-glazed amphora, lot 331, is a Tang-style form derived from

Sassanian metalwork. This was very fine quality Imperial ware, an ornate form

but monochrome glaze. Monochromes are traditionally both Asian and Western

taste, so not surprisingly it was bought for $442,500 by an Asian-American,

underbid by a westerner, underbid by a Chinese. Continuing to run through the

top lots, we had another painting next at $376,500, and then an archaic

bronze, late Western Zhou, in very good condition with a cover, sold to a

European private collector for $288,500.

While it is true that the market in Asian art for Asian taste material has no

doubt been affected by the Asian crisis, Asian art in general is pretty

strong, because there are enough Asians still buying to compete with the

continuing strong American and European bidding.

We did not have furniture in this sale. We sell furniture in the fall because

at the shows there is a fair amount of furniture around. It is a fledgling

market, so we don't want to overburden it."

Sotheby's

Carlton Rochell, Jr, recently appointed director of Sotheby's Asia Division

Worldwide, founded the department of Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asia art

at the auction house. Their March 25 sale in that up-and-coming field resulted

in the largest auction total, nearly $5 million. Other catalogued events

covered Chinese works of art and snuff bottles, Chinese furniture, Japanese

works of art, and Asian decorative works of art.

"Who was buying varied from department to department. In terms of

participation, it was nice to see a revival of Asian bidding in the Japanese

sale this time. A lot of bidding was American as well.

I think that [this participation] is one thread that goes through Asia Week

sales in terms of buyers: In March, because of the fairs and auctions, it

tends to draw the greatest international crowd, but it particularly draws a

lot of Americans from across the country.

The highlights were two gilt bronze Tibeto-Chinese figures -- made in China,

aesthetically Tibetan. Lot 121, a bronze of Amitayus, with a Xuande mark

dating to 1426-1435 doubled its high estimate and brought $607,500. Following

that was a Yamantaka statue, which was sort of the star of the show at

$745,000. That was the highest price ever for a gilt bronze, quite an

astounding price.

Other strong sales included the cover lot at $200,500, a Pala Buddhist black

stone stele of Syamatare from India, which had been in a European collection

for 30 years.

This sale -- more than many others in the past -- had a lot of fresh-to-market

properties from four or five private collections, and people really responded

to it. Asia Week has been a very successful marketing idea. The spring has the

advantage of really a big event in terms of the Fair and other exhibitions

that are not necessarily there in September.

With all the activity this week, I was slightly surprised that the market was

still a bit selective. We felt that in September when the stock market was

going through its hiccups. This time, we have a fairly strong position in the

stock market, but yet that selectivity is still there. Things that are very

good, that are popular, people will compete for, but it is not like it was a

year ago, when it seemed like everything was going great guns. That surprised

me, I thought things would be very healthy this week, and there were some ups

and downs.

I think Chinese porcelain remains one of the stronger areas of the market

whereas early pottery models -- Tang Dynasty, that sort of thing -- has been a

little patchy lately. The production was massive in China. The problem is, in

fact, there is an over-supply which has caused prices to decline.

Chinese furniture was not terribly strong this week. We were hoping for better

results because there has been a lot of interest in Chinese furniture on the

part of American buyers.

I felt in the Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian sale, I had more American

participation, in terms of proportion, than I have ever had. I think it has

been a relatively undiscovered, undervalued area in a sense, compared to

Japanese and Chinese art, which is a much more established market with a

longer history of sales. But Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian seems to

be growing because it is a lot newer, and I think it is catching up to the

others. It used to be considered a very esoteric field, and it has become more

mainstream."