Highlights from Hong Kong Spring Sales

The Macallan in Lalique Six Pillars Series – The Legacy Collection. Estimate: HK$2,000,000–3,000,000 (US$260,000–500,000).

Sotheby’s Hong Kong kicks off spring auctions with two wine sales. On 1 April, A Monumental Collection, From the Cellars of a Connoisseur features incredible selections from the world’s greatest producers including La Tâche 1978 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Romanée Conti 1990 Domanine de la Romanée Conti. On the following day, Finest and Rarest Wines and The Macallan will offer 1,000 lots estimated at HK$31,000,000–45,000,000/US$4,000,000–5,800,000. Highlights include The Macallan In Lalique Legacy Collection featuring the Six Pillars series which contains The Macallan’s single malts aged from 50 to 65 years old, housed in a unique cabinet by Lalique.

A Monumental Collection From the Cellars of a Connoisseur Part III
1 April | Hong Kong

Finest and Rarest Wines and The Macallan
2 April | Hong Kong

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Motonaga Sadamasa, Untitled, 1963. Estimate: HK$4,000,000–6,000,000 (US$510,000–770,000).

In April 2016, Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s curated white-glove sale Brushwork – From Asia to The World presented a universal calligraphic aesthetic found in post-war abstraction. Its sequel Brushwork II – All The World’s a Stage celebrates the newly globalized and interconnected post-war arena where artists painted for the world – not just for local audiences. In their cross-cultural search for a common international language on the global “stage” of abstraction, artists turned to performance, process, and dynamic synthesis of East and West.

Brushwork II – All The World’s a Stage
2 April | Hong Kong

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Jean-Michel Basquiat, Water-Worshipper, 1984. Estimate: HK$35,000,000–43,000,000 (US$4,500,000–5,500,000).

For the first time in an Evening Sale series, we are delighted to present iconic Western contemporary works, including Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Water-Worshipper and Adrian Ghenie’s Self-Portrait in 1945. Among the Asian highlights are Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline, Mother and Son (1993), Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask No. 6 and Lin Fengmian’s Harvest at Dawn. Revered painter Zao Wou-Ki’s 1950s-era Bateaux au Claire de la Lune joins two works from Wu Guanzhong: Field Chrysanthemums and A Banyan and Lotus Flowers. The sale also offers works by significant pioneers of Southeast Asia such as Le Pho, Georgette Chen, Affandi and Joseph Inguimberty, presenting varied insights into the region’s artistic triumphs.

Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
2 April | Hong Kong

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Previously from the collection of Wu Hufan, Shitao Landscapes, Album of twelve leaves. Estimate upon request.

The Fine Classical Chinese Paintings sale presents one hundred lots this spring, comprising paintings and calligraphy from famous private collections, including the Mo Boji Family Collection and Si Wei Tang. Among the highlights of the sale are Landscapes by Shitao, previously from the collection of Wu Hufan, Landscape after Huang Gongwang by Wang Yuanqi and Geese on the Waterfront by Ma Ben.

Fine Classical Chinese Paintings
3 April | Hong Kong

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Ronald Ventura, Voids and Cages (Archetypes), 2013. Estimate: HK$600,000–900,000 (US$76,000–115,000).

The upcoming sale of Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art will offer a remarkable selection of works by the region’s leading artists. Curated to reflect Southeast Asia’s rich and diverse artistic cultures, the sale includes paintings by modern masters Cheong Soo Pieng, Hendra Gunawan, Lee Man Fong, Srihadi and Fernando Amorsolo. Alongside these highlights, we will feature innovative works by leading contemporary voices such as I Nyoman Masriadi, Awang Damit Ahmad and Jigger Cruz.

Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art
3 April | Hong Kong

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Walasse Ting, Portrait of Brooks Barron, 1960. Estimate: HK$700,000–1,500,000 (US$90,000–190,000).

Uniting fine pieces by modern masters, this season’s Modern Asian Art Day Sale includes works by Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and Wu Guanzhong, plus works on paper by Sanyu and Foujita not to be missed. Ding Yanyong’s rare oil painting Nude J leads a featured section of works by the artist, while vivid and colourful works by Walasse Ting illustrate both abstractions and figures.

Modern Asian Art
3 April | Hong Kong

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Kusama Yayoi, Pumpkin, 1992. Estimate: HK$2,000,000–3,000,000 (US$260,000–380,000).

The Contemporary Asian Art Day Sale offers a diverse range of avant-garde works hailing from China, Japan and Korea. Featuring works by Japanese icons Kusama Yayoi and Nara Yoshitomo as well as the seminal Dansaekhwa artists, the diverse selection is set to thrill collectors and connoisseurs of Asian contemporary art.

Contemporary Asian Art
3 April | Hong Kong

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Yamaguchi Takeo, Fuza, 1966. Estimate: HK$1,000,000–1,500,000 (US$130,000–190,000).

Yamaguchi Takeo – Composing Monochrome pays respect to one of the most iconic and pioneering artists of the twentieth century. An important mentor of Lee Ufan who provided both financial and artistic support to Kim Whanki as well as countless Japanese students in the post-war period, Yamaguchi Takeo single-handedly composed a one-man monochrome symphony that heralded the 1970s wave of monochrome artists in Asia. His distinctive paintings were shown at the São Paolo and Venice Biennales, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York as early as the 1950s and 1960s. The present sale offers works spanning six decades, tracing the elegant evolution of a trailblazing legacy.

Yamaguchi Takeo – Composing Monochrome
3 April | Hong Kong

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Long Chin-San, Trees on the Peaks. Estimate: HK$200,000–300,000 (US$26,000–38,000).

The globally renowned pioneer of Chinese photography Long Chin-San witnessed the development and growth of the medium during the 20th century. Moments of Flash presents twenty four works by the trailblazer spanning more than nine decades of his creative career. From an important private collection, the works include realist portraits, still lifes and nudes, several of which were stamped and inscribed by revered masters Yu Dafu and Zhang Daqian. Also including a personal gift to the late president Chiang Ching-Kuo, this unique collection not only depicts key highlights of Long’s career, but is also full of historically significant ephemera.

Moments of Flash
3 April | Hong Kong

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Zhang Daqian, Lush Mountains in Misty Gleam, 1967. Estimate upon request.

The Chinese Paintings Department has curated a number of special collections to be offered in the coming Spring sale, such as an array of paintings and calligraphy previously from the collection of Wu Hufan, along with works of his students, and the collection of the infamous Guangdong book collector Mo Boji. The highlights of the sale include masterpieces by Zhang Daqian, many of which are gifts to his close friends, such as the splashed ink and colour landscape on gold paper for Tai Jingnong, a splashed ink lotus painting for Wu Hufan to celebrate his 70th birthday, and red lotuses for his friend Mao Yingchu.

Fine Chinese Paintings
4 April | Hong Kong

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A magnificent and extremely rare dry-lacquer head of a Bodhisattva, Tang dynasty. Estimate: HK$18,000,000–25,000,000 (US$2,300,000–3,200,000).

This season’s cabinet of curiosity offers an improbable array of objects from the dawn of life on earth to the present day, including snow goggles from the ancient Chukchi tribe living in the Arctic tundra; the massive skull of a late Jurassic allosaurus; a magnificent and extremely rare large 8th century head of a Bodhisattva made in the dry lacquer technique; fine scholar’s rocks and roots; a study of skulls and limbs by Renaissance master Figino; a wonderful selection of naturally formed gogottes; understated monochrome stoneware vessels from the Song dynasty; and a beautiful anatomical wax head made in Italy more than two hundred years ago.

Curiosity III
4 April | Hong Kong

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Wang Jiqian, Landscape No. 472, 1983. Estimate: HK$800,000–1,200,000 (US$104,000–155,000).

Sotheby’s vibrant sales of Contemporary Ink Art place a global spotlight on today’s artists working against the backdrop of a formal ink painting tradition. Landscape No. 472 by Wang Jiqian (C. C. Wang) is regarded as one of the most personal and original works by the renowned Chinese artist-scholar-collector. The colourful, textured landscape is an important example of innovation by established artists working with the ink medium around the world.

Contemporary Ink Art
4 April | Hong Kong

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A rare gem-set and diamond necklace, Mauboussin. Estimate: HK$5,900,000–7,500,000 (US$750,000–962,000).

Rare and exquisite treasures from nature feature alongside exclusive contemporary design masterminds and iconic legendary jewellers in the upcoming Spring sale. A luxurious 8.64-carat Kashmir sapphire is complemented by a unique pair of ruby and diamond bangles by design extraordinaire, Bhagat and a remarkable gem-set and diamond necklace by Mauboussin.

Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite
4 April | Hong Kong

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An exceptional and extremely rare Dingyao carved ‘peony’ bottle vase, Northern Song dynasty. Estimate: HK$8,000,000–10,000,000 (US$1,000,000–1,500,000).

Assembled by a discerning collector from the 1980s to early 2000s, the focus is on Song dynasty and other early ceramics. The highlight of the single-owner sale is a Song dynasty Dingyao bottle vase, superbly carved with peony flowers, formerly in the Sir Alan Barlow and Muwen Tang collections. The only other recorded Dingyao bottle vase of similar form, from the Qing court collection, is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Song Ceramics from a Distinguished Private Collector
5 April | Hong Kong

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An exceptional yellow-ground blue and white ‘gardenia’ dish, mark and period of Hongzhi. Estimate: HK$2,500,000–3,500,000 (US$320,000–449,000).

Following on from the extraordinary success of the Pilkington collection of Chinese art, sold in April 2016, this additional group, formerly in the collection of Maureen Pilkington (1928–2011), consists of six exceptional yellow-glazed porcelains ranging in date from the Chenghua to Yongzheng reigns, all specially given to her by her husband Roger Pilkington (1928–1969), and endowed with truly illustrious provenance. The highlights of the single-owner sale are a rare Chenghua monochrome dish from the collection of H.R.N. Norton and a blue and yellow Hongzhi ‘gardenia’ dish that once belonged to Sir Percival David.

Yellow-Ground Wares from the Collection of Maureen Pilkington
5 April | Hong Kong

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An outstanding and extremely rare celadon jade figure of an elephant, Western Han dynasty. Estimate: HK$5,000,000–7,000,000 (US$641,000–897,000).

High quality animal figures created from jade in early Chinese dynastic history represent some of the most powerful sculptures of antiquity, created to embody and pacify the elemental and supernatural forces of the living world. This superb collection of thirty-five jades, carefully assembled over thirty years by a passionate Hong Kong connoisseur, with a core group from the renowned Hei-Chi collection, spans a timeline from the Han to Qing dynasties and includes three Han dynasty figures of superlative quality – a bixie, bear and elephant, which rank alongside the finest examples preserved in international museums.

Beasts of Antiquity – Important Jade Animals from the Chang Shou Studio
5 April | Hong Kong

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An extremely rare doucai stem cup, mark and period of Chenghua. Estimate: HK$8,000,000–12,000,000 (US$1,000,000–1,500,000).

This unique sale consists of a carefully curated group of small Ming and Qing porcelain wares of the utmost refinement and quality, all created for the personal use and enjoyment of high ranking members of the Imperial court. The sale is highlighted by two extremely rare pieces of exquisite Chenghua porcelain – a doucai stem cup and a blue and white cup – and a truly opulent Qianlong blue-ground yangcai bowl. The porcelains in the single-owner sale encompass a rich variety of decorative patterns and glazes, but all share the same essential tactile quality.

In His Majesty’s Palm: Exquisite Porcelain Playthings
5 April | Hong Kong

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An exceptional Junyao purple and blue glazed tripod circular narcissus bowl, Early Ming dynasty. Estimate: HK$8,000,000–12,000,000 (US$1,000,000–1,500,000).

This single-owner sale of twenty-four lots from two American private collections, carefully formed with the advice of the leading Chinese art dealership J.J. Lally & Co., New York, comprises high-quality ceramics from the Song to Qing dynasty and a magnificent jade buffalo. Highlights of the ceramics, many of which are endowed with additional prestigious provenance, include a superb Guanyao dish formerly in the collection of Stephen Junkunc III, a brilliant purple-splashed Junyao narcissus bowl and a Kangxi copper-red ‘dragon vase’.

Chinese Art from Two American Private Collections
5 April | Hong Kong

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A ‘Huanghuali’ dressing case with carved doors and gilt-bronze fittings, Late Ming – Early Qing dynasty. Estimate: HK$800,000–1,200,000 (US$103,000–154,000).

The Dr S.Y. Yip Collection is an internationally acclaimed and exquisite group of Ming dynasty furniture avidly assembled during the last two decades of the 20th century. Following on from the spectacular success of the furniture sold in October 2015, this fine assemblage consists of smaller furniture items and table-top pieces, encapsulating the elegance and refinement of scholarly interiors in the late Ming and Qing dynasty. Highlights of the collection include two rare huanghuali items: a dressing case with carved doors and gilt-bronze fittings and a small kang table.

Portable Treasures – The Dr S.Y. Yip Collection
5 April, Hong Kong

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Patek Philippe, An exceptional pink gold tonneau-shaped automatic minute repeating perpetual calendar wristwatch with retrograde date and moon-phases, Ref 5013R. Estimate: HK$1,800,000–2,800,000 (US$230,000–260,000).

Sotheby’s welcomes our first watches sale in 2017 by bringing together an exquisite collection of the finest watch brands, from highly complicated minute repeating to artistically handcrafted enamel watches to name but a few. An enticing collection of modern timepieces from various independent watchmakers such as Richard Mille and MB&F will also be showcased.

Important Watches
5 April | Hong Kong

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