Early Chinese Art from the Eberhardt Collection

艾伯哈特珍藏中國古代藝術品

Live Auction: 30 November 2021 • 10:00 AM HKT • Hong Kong | 拍賣: 2021年11月30日 • 上午 10:00 HKT • 香港

S otheby’s is delighted to present six items from the celebrated Eberhardt collection. The star lot of the group is the magnificent Shang dynasty bronze ding food vessel with a pictograph, formerly in the collections of T.Y. King and H.E. Alexandre J. Argyropoulos. The prominent eyes of the animal masks, together with the crisply cast cicadas, declare its ritual significance during the glorious time of the Shang dynasty. The sale also includes a few Western Zhou dynasty bronzes, such as a mask-decorated gui food vessel and a pair of horse bridle ornaments. Julius Eberhardt’s passion in early Chinese art was not limited to archaic bronzes only, and his eclectic interest is represented by two artefacts from the Neolithic period in this sale: a smoothly polished pale celadon jade cong and a painted pottery jar with minimalist features of a bird.

Julius Eberhardt (1936-2012), an acclaimed Austrian architect, had been fascinated by the art and culture of ancient China since the time of his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The pursuit of his interest, however, was interrupted after he took over his father’s construction business, which grew multifold in the following decades. He returned to this interest only late in life, after a trip to the Far East. Being particularly intrigued by the early dynasties of China’s past, he assembled at the end of the 20th century a major collection of Chinese works of art ranging from the Neolithic (from the 4th millennium BC) to the Tang (618-907), including the present selection of archaic works.

As he derived immense pleasure himself from this collection of ancient Chinese works of art, Julius Eberhardt was determined to share it with others. Aware of the paucity of similar material in his native Austria, he set up a private museum in Vienna (fig. 1) with the intention to make the collection available to scholars and researchers. The museum, generously appointed, exquisitely and sensitively layout, and accompanied by a small library, was open by appointment and offered a congenial environment to enjoy and study these objects. It was the first major private collection of ancient Chinese art to be assembled and made public in Austria. Part of his endeavour to make his collection available to the public was his commissioning of a bilingual (German-English) catalogue which was published in 1999, with a first addendum in 2004, and a second one being planned at the time of his death (Regina Krahl, Sammlung Julius Eberhardt. Frühe chinesische Kunst / Collection Julius Eberhardt. Early Chinese Art, 2 vols, Hong Kong, n.d. [1999] and 2004, fig. 2). Like the Museum, the books were produced to a very high standard, thanks to his longtime advisors Lothar and the late Christina Wesemann.

Among the many fine works of art he acquired, his greatest coup was undoubtedly the acquisition of the Argyropoulos bronzes from J.J. Lally & Co, New York, which would be star items in any collection of Chinese art and became the core and pride of the Eberhardt collection. H.E. Alexandre J. Argyropoulos (1894-1978), descendant of a renowned Byzantine family from Constantinople, was the Greek ambassador to China after World War II. The top lot of the present sale is also formerly in the Argyropoulos collection.

In 2013, Sotheby’s had the honour to offer a tightly curated group of ten archaic bronzes from the Eberhardt collection, which was met with enthusiasm by collectors and scholars alike (fig. 3). Led by the early Western Zhou dynasty Zuo Bao Yi Gui from the Argyropoulos collection which fetched over 6.6 million USD, the sale is considered as one of the landmark auctions in the field, in par with the Albright-Knox auction at Sotheby’s in 2007.

香港蘇富比欣呈艾伯哈特珍藏，雖僅六器，榮幸之至。首推商代青銅獸面紋鼎，器內沿銘徽號，曾為金從怡及阿基洛珀斯遞藏。其獸面、蟬紋峻嶺分明，雷紋地襯托，突出圓目炯炯，遙想殷商之時、典儀之上，吉金耀眼懾人。同場並獻西周青銅數器，包括獸面紋簋及馬鑣成對。艾君對早期文化藝術的博好廣藏，也可從專場中窺見一斑。玉琮素面琢磨細膩，彩陶倣鳥天真樸雅，兩器均屬新石器時代之物，淵古引思。

奧地利著名建築師朱利思．艾伯哈特（1936-2012年），早於維也納美術學院就讀之時，已深受中國古代文化藝術吸引。縱然熱忱滿胸，竣學後子承父業，往後數十載埋首工作，擴展其建築公司，規模倍增。後來一次亞洲之旅，才重燃他對中國高古器物的熱情與嚮往。九十年代始，艾君收藏了一批從新石器時代到唐朝（618-907年）的中國早期藝術精品，其中便包括本場拍賣會所呈獻的中國古代雅器。

艾君透過收藏中國古代藝術品獲得了無窮的樂趣，是以設法想將這份喜悅與眾共享。鑑於家鄉奧地利可供硏究中國古代藝術的資源有限，他決定於維也納創建奧地利首座私人中國古代藝術博物館（圖一）。博物館館藏豐富，布局別出心裁，並設有小圖書館，為學者們提供了適意的研究環境。為了給予大眾更多欣賞藏品的機會，艾君更於1999年出版德英雙語版藏品圖錄，並於2004年出版附錄（康蕊君，《Sammlung Julius Eberhardt: Frühe chinesische Kunst［朱利思．艾伯哈特藏品集：早期中國藝術］》，全兩卷，香港，1999及2004年，圖二）。直到2012年艾君離世之時，附錄次卷還在籌備當中。有賴於艾君兩位顧問羅特和克麗絲娜．維斯門夫婦的長期協作，圖錄出版及博物館活動皆遵循嚴格的學術標準。

艾君平生收藏的眾多藝術精品中，論重要性莫過於購自紐約古董商藍理捷的阿基洛珀斯舊藏高古青銅。希臘外交官阿基洛珀斯（1894-1978年）為拜占庭帝國望族之後，第二次世界大戰後擔任希臘駐華大使。本場拍賣中的重點拍品正乃阿基洛珀斯舊藏。

2013年，蘇富比有幸於紐約舉行艾伯哈特珍藏專拍，呈獻青銅器十件，讓藏家、學者親睹雅蓄，哄動一時，阿基洛珀斯舊藏「作寶彝簋」更以逾660萬美元成交（圖三）。該次拍賣媲美蘇富比2007年奧爾布賴特．諾克斯專場，被譽是為青銅拍賣立下了重要的里程碑。