![](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" height="2250px" width="4000px"></svg>)
A fter an impeccable result in September with the auction Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, which achieved an exceptional 99.5 percent sell-through rate, Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art returns this month with two single-owner collections on 21 and 22 November.
Masterpieces of Asian Art from the Okada Museum of Art is an extraordinary collection encompassing the breadth of East Asian art featuring world-class masterpieces from across China, Japan and Korea. Assembled over three decades under the guidance of Kochukyo Co., Ltd – the venerated art dealership founded by Hirota Matsushige in 1924, later known as Fukosai – the collection represents many of the highest achievements in East Asian art, and reflects the societal and religious values, rooted in a common intellectual foundation, and the political forces that influenced the course of its history.
This season, Sotheby’s Hong Kong is also bringing to the rostrum a significant and tightly curated group of imperial ceramics and works of art representing some of the highest achievements of Chinese imperial craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibility. Spanning from the Yuan and Ming dynasties to the Qing, each piece in Imperial Connoisseurship: Treasures of Chinese Art from a Prestigious Collection is a testament to the technical perfection and artistic brilliance achieved by Chinese artisans under the watchful eyes of its emperors.
Below we spotlight six pieces handpicked by our specialists.
An extremely rare and superbly painted blue and white ’dragon’ jar and cover, Yuan dynasty | Estimate: 8,000,000 – 16,000,000 HKD
This jar, with high shoulders tapering to a gently waisted foot, is an exemplary example of Yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain. With the reopening of the Silk Road following the fall of the Song dynasty (960-1279) and the establishment of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), cobalt blue was again imported from the Near East and the innovations of blue-and-white underglaze porcelain marked a turning point in history of Chinese ceramics. It quickly became the foremost type of porcelain produced out of Jingdezhen and the city became the dominant centre of ceramic production in China in the late Yuan dynasty, maintaining that position ever since. Painted in beautiful, rich cobalt tones, the majestic four-clawed dragon sweeping across the jar through ruyi clouds above a crashing band of waves is without question extraordinary and rare for the complexity of its rendering. It is thought only about a dozen blue and white porcelains exist with a dragon comparable to this, and among these, the dragon on this Yuan dynasty jar is remarkable because unlike Yuan dragons which typically gaze in the direction of their movement, the enchanting dragon on this jar has its eyes turned sideways evidently looking at the viewer, drawing one into its powerful presence.
A fine and exceedingly rare copper-red and underglaze-blue 'fish' stem bowl, Ming dynasty, Chenghua period| Estimate: 8,000,000 – 16,000,000 HKD
Demonstrative of the technical and aesthetic mastery of Jingdezhen craftsmen, this deep, rounded stem bowl bears four fish – a mandarin and three carp-like fish – in rich copper-red moving through a lotus pond with flowers in various stages of bloom, interspersed with sprays of waterweeds and arrow grass among crested waves in soft hues of cobalt blues characteristic of the Chenghua period. Rooted in a fabled fourth century debate between Confucian thinker Huizi and Daoist philosopher Zhangzi, the motif of fish gracefully swimming among undulating fronds in a lotus pond has inspired ink painters since the Song dynasty (960-1279), and porcelain since the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). While blue and white porcelain reached a pinnacle during the Chenghua reign (r.1465-1487), porcelain decorated with copper red was not prominent during this period, and even rarer is the combination of copper red and cobalt blue. Making this stem bowl even more remarkable is that while potters continued to experiment with copper red glaze throughout the Chenghua reign, no other example combining cobalt blue and copper red in a design from this period is known.
A fine and very rare blue and white lobed bowl, Mark and period of Xuande | Estimate: 3,000,000 – 6,000,000 HKD
Delicately painted in glorious rich cobalt blue, this six-lobed bowl with bold conical walls and a slightly tapered foot was a popular form in the Imperial court of the Ming (1368-1644). and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties. A fertile period of cross-cultural trade under the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424) and that of his son Xuande (r.1426-1435) widened the horizon of Chinese potters and artisans during the Ming dynasty. Among various ceramics technological achievements, this era is credited for success in improved recipes achieving thinner clay bodies and new glazes that gave white porcelain a shinier, purer appearance. Both the exterior and interior of this lobed bowl are exquisitely decorated with vibrant sprays of fruiting branches and blooms, from cherry, loquat, peach, grape, lychee, and pomegranate to lotus, rose, camellia, chrysanthemum, and several types of peonies. The heaping and piling effect – caused by the accumulation of iron oxide in the cobalt pigment – was characteristic of Yuan and early Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain and greatly valued for adding depth and texture. A prized Imperial ware, another bowl of this present design also of Xuande mark and period is held in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.
An extremely rare and important imperial copper-red glazed moulded ’dragon’ bowl, Ming dynasty, Hongwu period | Estimate: 3,000,000 – 6,000,000 HKD
Notorious for being one of the most technically challenging glazes in the history of Chinese porcelain, copper-red was first attempted in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) although results were highly unpredictable. By the time of the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-1398), the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, copper-red had advanced from the browner reds seen in preceding Yuan examples to soft and mottled pinkish tones. This characteristic hue sets it apart from the more vibrant, scarlet tones perfected under the Yongle and Xuande emperors in later reigns. Representing the earliest emergence of imperial red wares intended for ceremonial use, this bowl belongs to a distinctive and exceptional group of Hongwu period anhua dragon porcelains. Only seven other copper-red bowls of this type appear to be recorded, with all but one held in important museum collections including the Taipei Palace Museum, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Osaka’s Museum of Oriental Ceramics, to name a few.
An extremely rare doucai 'grapevine' stem cup, Ming dynasty, Wanli period| Estimate: 2,000,000 – 4,000,000 HKD
Decorated with a grapewine suspending three bunches of grapes with curling tendrils in underglaze blue and soft washes of green, yellow, brown and aubergine, this doucai stem cup is a very rare example of Chenghua-style porcelain, and possibly the only one of its kind in private hands. Porcelain from the Chenghua period (r.1465-1487) was admired for its superb quality and craftsmanship, its designs and techniques influencing later wares of the Wanli period (r. 1572-1620). Even only a century after Chenghua porcelains were made, such pieces were already coveted by collectors and its prestige reflected throughout the late Ming dynasty. By the mid-Wanli period, with its shallow rounded cup and gently flared rim rising from a hollow splayed stem, the doucai stem cup became the preeminent wine cup shape and design, earning it’s praise as among the finest of Chenghua wares.
A superb and very rare imperial Beijing enamel teapot and cover, Blue-enamel mark and period of Yongzheng | Estimate: 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 HKD
A true synthesis of Eastern and Western artistic traditions, this enamel teapot and cover is an exceptional masterpiece created in the Palace Workshops during the Yongzheng period (r. 1722-1735) of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). The Yongzheng Emperor held a deep passion for painted enamels. Under his meticulous supervision and pursuit of perfection, enamel craftsmanship enjoyed a golden era of unsurpassed mastery. The technical legacy of the Yongzheng reign was later maintained by his son, the Qianlong Emperor. Painted with an incredibly sophisticated palette with nuanced shades of yellow, red, pink, blue, green, and brown-red enamels, this present teapot is adorned with traditionally auspicious Chinese motifs including a pair of quails and a pair of geese, and lush sprays of roses, peonies, magnolia, lotus, prunus and chrysanthemum. Enamel painted gilt-bronze wares from the Palace Workshops are almost without doubt unique creations or made as a matched pair. No comparable teapot of this specificity is known to be recorded in any museum or private collection, though its decorative elements are seen on several related works in the Taipei Palace Museum.
