: Several lots at Sotheby's Asian Week auctions proved to be
surprises with one pair of vases bringing ten times the low
estimate during the Chinese Works of Art auction on March 23.
The vases, a pair of soft paste examples with six character
Qianlong sealmarks, were carved and molded with three Indian
lotus, hibiscus and camela blooms with scrolling stems and
serrated leaves. In a crackled cream glaze, the vases carried a
presale estimate of $25/35,000, yet became the top lot of the
$5.1-plus million auction when they hammered at $299,200.
Indian and Southeast Asian Art was offered the following day with
strong prices also posted for this sale, which grossed $3.14
million for the 203 lots offered.
The top lot came as a monumental high relief carved standing
Buddha, gray schist, Gandhara, was sold. The Buddha is the
tallest known freestanding Gandhara statue to have survived from
the region. Estimated at $200/300,000, brisk bidding ensued as
the lot was offered with it being knocked down at $736,000.
