Adapting To Changing Times, Arts Of Pacific Asia Show Draws A Crowd

NEW YORK CITY

: New York Arts of Pacific Asia, now in its twelfth year, returned to 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 26th Street from March 30 to April 2.

Featuring primarily Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Southeast Asian material, the Caskey-Lees event has always felt a like a work in progress - solid in the center, a little loose around the edges - which is perhaps why it moves so easily with the times, accommodating the market's ups and downs while adapting to ever-changing taste.

"The show has improved tremendously," Bill Caskey, who continues to tinker with the fair, said from his California home the day after pack-out. Caskey and his wife and business partner Liz Lees were gratified by this year's outstanding attendance, the best in five years. The gate increased by nearly 25 percent to 13,634 visitors. Saturday's attendance alone was a record 2,200.

Part of the increase resulted from a new Wednesday evening preview, which drew 1,105 visitors. Forty-five minutes into the show, there was still a line to get in.

"It went so well that we ran out of food," said Caskey, who plans to repeat the preview next year. "Buyers are already in town for the auctions and the gallery events, and we're set up, so it makes sense to open earlier."

Curators from around the country were among shoppers at the 75-exhibitor fair, whose members represent 15 countries and 18 states.

Flanking the entrance were two of the showiest works, a pair of 11-foottall Japanese bronze pagoda-shaped lanterns from a temple complex. Offered by Chinalai Tribal Antiques of Shoreham, N.Y., the lighting devices were $165,000.

Straight ahead was a loan show of contemporary tapestry art by Jon Eric Riis and wood and metal sculptures by Richard Mafong, Riis's business partner, and industrial pattern maker Mike Harrison. All three men are from Atlanta.

Riis, a dealer in antique Chinese costumes and textiles, studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cranbrook Academy of Art before setting up his studio. Shaped like Chinese coats, his ingeniously woven garments, some of which are appliqued or couched in seed pearls, often explore contemporary social and political themes. Riis is represented in museum collections around the country.

Caskey-Lees has carefully introduced a small amount of contemporary material into what is, and should remain, an antiques show, less its message be lost and it audience diluted. An intriguing addition to this year's fair was Augusta664. The Sao Paolo, Brazil, dealers displayed stone teapots, delicately sculpted by contemporary Chinese carvers, in dramatically lit shadow boxes.

Early to mid-Twentieth Century material provided a graceful transition from old to new. Particularly successful was Shibui Antiques of Pasadena, Calif., with Japanese art bronzes and ceramics. Another California dealer, Mark Powley of San Francisco, featured an engaging Chinese scroll depicting mice and a lantern, painted in a traditional style by Qi Baishi (1863-1957).

Classical Chinese art and artifacts remain the cornerstone of the fair, and of the market at large. Peter Rosenberg of Vallin Galleries, whose booth is one the first visitors see on entering, said he sold well: Chinese furniture, ceramics and jade, but no paintings. The Wilton, Conn., dealer featured a large, lacquered Japanese Meiji quail cage embellished with the Tokugawa clan crest and a Chinese sculpted head of red marble.

Dragon House of San Francisco sold a Chinese Imperial Chien Lung Eighteenth Century vase, along with an important piece of carved jade and a Tibetan bronze.

Jades were also brisk sellers for New York dealer Robin Turner, who parted with her catalog piece, a 6-inch-tall Qing greenish-white figure of the God of Longevity.

Chinese Export porcelain, a Western taste, has generally not sold well here. Knowing this, New York dealers Suchow and Seigel decided to exhibit anyway, stuffing three display cases with a rich assortment of porcelain.

"This is a dramatic, dynamic show, full of energy, with people on the floor from beginning to end. Preview night was a buying frenzy. If people were looking for Chinese Export, I would have done quite well. As it was, I sold a number of things, mainly to collectors of Armorials," said Sanford Suchow, who parted with his catalog piece, a plate from the 1740 English-market Okeover service, $18,000, along with two Chinese Export watercolors.

Japanese art has played a bigger part in the show over the past several years. Consistently presenting one of the most attractive displays is Bachmann Eckenstein of Basel, Switzerland, with tea bowls, paintings and calligraphy.

Ningyo doll specialists Alan Pate of Akanezumiya and Tim Mertel of L'Asie Exotique in New York reported good sales. While in Manhattan, Pate signed copies of his book, Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll, at Barnes & Noble.

Sculpture is a strong suit. New York dealer Eleanor Abraham featured a trio of monumental South Indian teak carvings representing the Hindu epic poem, the Ramayana. Carved Indian and Nepalese stone figures were imposing presences at Carlos Cruanas, a new exhibitor from Barcelona, Spain, and the consistently striking Dalton-Somare of Milan.

Small and precious was the name of the game at The Jade Dragon, where a 51/2-inch-tall Qing dynasty bamboo carving in the form of a baicai with two praying mantises on the underside of one leaf was $28,000.

Of the many Buddhas for sale, one of the most arresting belonged to Honolulu dealer Robyn Buntin. Seated in a position of meditation with Bodhisattvas Rannon and Seishi by its side, the Seventeenth Century carved wood and lacquer figure, 25 inches tall, was $34,000.

Peter Hardt's display glimmered with Tibetan bronzes, some dating from the Twelfth Century. The dealer, who has galleries in California and Germany, priced a classical Thirteenth to Fourteenth Century seated figure in perfect condition at $115,000.

Still underpriced, textiles have been an important component of this show from day one. One of the best additions this year was John Ruddy, a Seattle dealer whose display consisted of vivid, technically superb Japanese, Indian and Southeast Asian weavings, embroideries and quilts mounted as paintings.

Another impressive weaving was a Cambodian silk-weft ikat pidan, or altar hanging, stretching along the length of Chinalai Tribal Antiques' back wall. The genre is discussed in Lee Chinalai's essay in the 2006 show catalog.

"We had one of our best shows ever," Lee Chinalai said afterwards. "People are beginning to have a sense not only of the intrinsic value of minority and tribal pieces, but an artistic appreciation of them as well, a realization of how beautiful and invested with passion these works are. Southeast Asia is emerging as an important area in the public's mind."

Along with Tibetan and Himalayan art, Islamic and ancient Near Eastern art is another growing component. New exhibitor Anavian Gallery of New York reported sales of a Seventeenth Century tile, one of the firm's specialties, and a Twelfth Century bronze Mughal flask.

Caskey-Lees returns to New York May 20-23 with the New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show. As a footnote, the promoters are launching a new fair in November at the Lexington Avenue Armory in the dates formerly reserved for the Connoisseurs Antiques Fair, in the past organized by the Art and Antique Dealers League of America and managed by Caskey-Lees.

"We will have 25-30 League dealers, some private art dealers, European, tribal and Twentieth Century material," said Caskey. "We want the November show to appeal to younger people than it has in the past."