: Asian sales at Christie's New York totaled $23,438,661 following
auctions conducted on September 21-23 at Rockefeller Center.
The September 21 sale of Chinese art totaled $11,167,991. A
strong feature in the sale was the group of archaic bronzes that
performed extraordinarily well with the cover lot, the
you, fetching $1,071,500. The furniture section
contributed to top-level prices with a zitan three-railing bed
setting a world auction record for a Chinese bed at $847,500.
The series of Asian art sales continued on September 22 with
Japanese and Korean Art, offering a rare early Seventeenth
Century pair of Japanese screens and a Korean hanging scroll of
the Choson period. The sale totaled $4,226,819 and saw the
strongest performance in the Japanese field in New York since
2000, according to Christie's. The sale was led by the
spectacular and rare early Seventeenth Century pair of screens,
which realized $589,900.
Katsura Yamaguchi, head of the Japanese and Korean art
department, said, "The rarity of the screens combined with the
fact that it was an original pair, made this lot hotly contested
and the final price of $589,900 easily doubled its presale
estimate."
The appearance of an intriguing single-owner collection of Noh
robes and masks, the first one ever to appear at auction, was
much appreciated by the audience, and the group totaled just over
$400,000. The Korean session was highlighted by a hanging scroll
depicting the Water Moon Avalokitesvara at $343,500.
"A Portuguese Ship Comes to Trade," anonymous, first quarter
Seventeenth Century, pair of six panel Japanese screens,
$589,900.
The grand finale took place on September 23 with the auction
of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, including Twentieth Century
Indian paintings, realizing a total of $8,043,851, the highest
total ever in the field. The top lot, a Khmer figure of Uma, came
from the Nathan L. Halpern collection and set a world auction
record for any work in the field when it was sold for $1,127,500.
The afternoon session devoted to Twentieth Century Indian paintings
totaled nearly $2.5 million and set several records.
Rounding out the top five lots in the sale of fine Chinese
furniture, archaic bronzes and works of art were: a bronze
owl-form covered vessel, xiaoyou, Shang dynasty, Twelfth-Eleventh
Century, $511,500; a bronze ritual tripod food vessel, ding,
Western Zhou dynasty, 10th Century BC, $511,500; and a large,
well-painted doucai moon flask, Qianlong seal mark in underglaze
blue Asian art and of the period (1736-1795), $489,100.
Besides the screens and hanging scroll, top highlights of the
Japanese and Korean art sale included: Iwasa Matabei (1578-1650),
Thirty-six Immortal Poets and their Poems, 36 paintings and poems
mounted as an accordion album, $365,900; Katsushika Hokusai
(1760-1849), "Standing Courtesan," hanging scroll, $197,900; and
Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1829), "Standing Courtesan," hanging scroll,
$107,550.
Sandstone figure of Uma, Khmer, Angkor period, Baphuon style,
Eleventh Century, $1,127,500.
Commenting on the Indian and Southeast Asian art sale, Hugo
Weihe, international head of the Indian and Southeast Asian art
department, said, "The auction was a groundbreaking event, which
not only realized the highest total ever for a sale of Indian and
Southeast Asian art, but also set a world auction record for any
work of art in the field, with the exquisite Khmer figure of Uma
selling for $1,127,500.
"Carefully composed with a strong focus on superb provenance and
top quality," he continued, "the sale attracted an international
audience of collectors fully honoring the rarity and quality of
the pieces and competing for them passionately. Across the board,
the sale achieved spectacular results, a trend that continued in
the afternoon when the section of Twentieth Century Indian
paintings realized nearly $2.5 million, the highest in the
contemporary Indian field, setting world auction records for
Sabavala, Raza and Swaminathan."
A parcel gilt and polychromed gray schist figure of the Teaching
Buddha sold for $601,100. Other top highlights were: a sandstone
figure of a celestial woman beneath a flowering branch, India,
Madhya Pradesh, late Tenth/ early Eleventh Century, $477,900; a
bronze figure of a Jina, South India, Chola period, Tenth
Century, $231,500; a bronze figure of Parvati, South India,
Vijayanagar period, Fourteenth Century, $220,300; and Syed Haider
Raza (born 1922), "Rajputana," acrylic on canvas, $220,300 (world
auction record for the artist).
Prices reported include buyer's premium.
