Browse Sotheby’s selection of decorative arts and objects, each with a unique historical provenance and character. Find a small treasure, a piece of history or an object from a notable collection.

Decorative Arts & Objects

Pencil, watercolor and body color drawing heightened with white on paper and watermarked J. Whatman 1804 and 1805.<ul><li>Well executed and highly atmospheric watercolors capturing the importance of the river for trade in early 19th century China.</li><li>Unusual and very attractive depictions of river life with the river in the foreground with a finely executed drawing of a native boat, the backgrounds showing landscape scenes interspersed with occasional architectural details.</li><li>Framed and glazed.</li></ul> The Pearl River is so named because of the pearl-colored shells that lie at the bottom of the river in the section that flows through the city of Guangzhou. Formerly often known as the Canton River, it is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catchall for the watersheds of the Xi ("West"), Bei ("North") and Dong ("East") rivers of Guangdong. These rivers are all considered tributaries of the Pearl River because they share a common delta, the Pearl River Delta. Measured from the farthest&nbsp;of the Xi River, the Pearl River system is China's third-longest river, 2,400 kilometers, after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and second largest by volume, after the Yangtze.

Chinese Craft on the Pearl River Mixed Media Drawing

Large-scale watercolors on paper from the Chinese School.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2.</li><li>Chinese scenes, possibly Canton or Shanghai, presumably executed for the Western market by an anonymous master and depicting internal and external views of a house.</li><li>Framed and glazed.</li><li>This type of export watercolor is usually found in a much smaller format, due to their delicate nature; it is uncommon to find examples of such size with fresh coloring.</li></ul>

Chinese House Scene Watercolors

Ink on paper attributed to Huang Shen (Chinese, 1687-1772).<ul><li>Seeing Plum Blossoms, signed, with two seals of the artist and one collector’s seal.</li><li>This work is offered framed.</li><li>黃慎（款） 踏雪尋梅 水墨紙本 鏡框 作者簽署，鈐印二方，鑒藏印一方</li></ul>

Seeking Plum Blossoms

A large embroidered panel from the late Ming, early Qing dynasty.<ul><li>Embroidered in shades of gold, blue, pale green and orange, accentuated with&nbsp;couched gold threads.</li><li>The immortal stands with twinkling eyes and a pleasant smile, the face padded to emphasize the cranial bump, cheeks and nose, his hands and long fingernails cradling a large ripe peach with a gnarled staff suspending a scroll tucked between his arm and chest.</li><li>Dressed in a voluminous robe decorated with emblems of longevity including cranes and&nbsp;shou&nbsp;characters, a double-gourd and&nbsp;lingzhi&nbsp;dangling from the robe.</li><li>A spotted deer carrying further peaches on its back, looking up at the figure.</li><li>The use of padding to model Shoulao's face in relief is a relatively rare technique among panels of this type. Highlighting his pronounced forehead, cranial bump, smiling cheeks and rounded nose,&nbsp;the modeling&nbsp;adds to the figure's charm and character, drawing attention against the rest of the flattened ground.&nbsp;</li><li>Offered framed.</li></ul>

Chinese Ming Dynasty Shoulao and Deer Embroidered Panel

Li Xubai (Chinese, b. 1940).The dark color is gradually changing to the top, and the forest flowers are few and far away.&nbsp;The gentleman loves the beauty of my house, lying down and listening to the mountain spring flying a hundred feet away.On the evening of Wuyin, I wrote down a picture of the mountain spring in the old home of Xiangjiang in the Tingyun Mountain Pavilion in Ottawa.&nbsp;The theme of the virtual white room in Fujian.Offered in a plain wood frame. 李虛白 1940年生 臥聽山泉 設色紙本 鏡框&nbsp;款識：暝色蒼茫漸上衣，林花寥落燕來稀。先生自愛吾廬美，臥聽山泉百丈飛。戊寅歲晚，記寫香江故家山泉圖於渥京聽雲山館。閩中虛白室主題&nbsp;鈐印：虛白室主人（朱）、閩中李齋（白）、 聽雲山館（白）

Waterfall in the Mountains

Hand-painted Chinese work on paper funeral banner.<ul><li>Qing Dynasty funeral scene.</li><li>Painted on rice paper in blues, pinks and greens with gilt accents.</li><li>Marked lower right.</li><li>Ivory silk brocade matting.</li><li>Gilt frame with hardware for wall hanging.</li></ul>

Chinese Qing Dynasty Veneration Scene

Chinese export watercolors.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 12.</li><li>Watercolor and gouache studies on pith paper, framed in giltwood and blue silk ribbon.</li><li>Pith came into use for painting to satisfy the increasing demand for small, inexpensive and easily transported souvenirs, following the massive growth in the China Trade in the first quarter of the 19th century.</li><li>Paintings in oils, on board and canvas were costly and difficult to carry home.</li><li>Earlier and more prestigious export watercolors had often been on a larger scale and painted on fine Chinese paper or on paper imported from Europe.</li><li>The albums of pith paintings (and later, the little glass fronted boxes) were inexpensive, light, easy to pack and gave the pictures some protection on the long voyage home.</li><li>Pith comes from the central column of spongy cellular tissue in the stem of a small tree called Tetrapanax Papyrifera, native to southwest China.</li><li>It has had a variety of uses, some going back many centuries.</li><li>Framed and glazed.</li></ul>

Decorative Arts & Objects

Decorative Arts & Objects

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Attributed to Huang Shen

Li Xubai