My latest report on the Chinese Art auction market just got released! You can find it in the March/April 2018 issue of Orientations, and it should be available in most museum bookstores within the coming days.
This article covers Chinese Art highlights from the Autumn 2017 sales season in New York, Hong Kong, London and Paris at the international auction houses Bonhams, Christie's and Sotheby's.
Items of interest include the major sale of Song ceramics and Ming Imperial porcelain from the Le Cong Tang Collection, a continuation of high prices for classical huanghuali furniture despite recent international restrictions, the astonishing prices of archaic and 18th Century jade carvings, and the strong interest in Buddhist sculptures by Chinese collectors.
I also point out the astronomical prices of early 20th Century Republican porcelain pieces, especially those related to the Zhushan Bayou (Eight friends of the Pearl Mountain).
If you haven't done so, you can also read my past blogs about my trips to some of these events including 'Strong Start to the Fall Auction Season - Featuring Bronzes, Porcelain and Monkeys' (September 2017) and 'Asian Art in London - Museum Treasures, Yongzheng Porcelain and Sumo Cats' (November 2017).
Founded in 1970 and published six times a year, Orientations is a Hong Kong based international magazine for everyone interested in Asian Art. This current March/April issue focuses on a major exhibition at the Liang Yi Museum in Hong Kong titled ‘The Blue Road: Mastercrafts from Persia’.
The show runs from 20 March to 24 June 2018 and emphasizes how the colour blue in Persian art and culture influenced artworks from across Asia. Over one hundred objects are showcased, with many on loan from private collectors and major museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the David Collection in Denmark, the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, and the Freer and Sackler Gallery Archives in Washington.
As for me, it's March and that means another edition of Asia Week New York is fast approaching! I will be visiting New York for the Asian Art auction previews, gallery openings and museum receptions from 14-20 March, so please let me know if you will be there.
I will also be visiting Vancouver at the beginning of April for a week of meetings with clients and institutions. If you know anyone in the Canadian West Coast who need their Asian Art valued or appraised, please send them my way!
You can always follow my Asian Art adventures through my instagram account @anthonywuart, and if you have any questions or comments, please send me an email.
