: Eldred's on Cape Cod conducted its weeklong Asian auctions
beginning with Japanese art on August 23-25, Paul Jacoulet prints
on August 24 and Asian arts on August 26 and 27. The nearly 2,500
lots brought a gross of $2,023,718. There were 1,282 bidders,
with a large percentage of them international participants.
The top lot of the Japanese sale was sold on day one - a pair of
Meiji period silver vases with gold inlay in katakiribori design
selling for $25,300. Other highlights of the first day were a
31-by-47-inch Meiji period watercolor view of Nikko by Bonsai
Loki (Bunya) that brought ten times its estimate to sell for
$21,850, while a Fourteenth/Fifteenth Century brocade-mounted
Buddhist scroll on silk crossed the block at $12,075. An
important Meiji period Yabu Meizan Satsuma pottery jar with Lake
Biwa landscape decoration brought $16,100 and a most unusual
early Twentieth Century inlaid silver and iron box by Shomin sold
for $14,950.
Other notable items were a Meiji period inlaid iron censer for
$11,500 and a Meiji period carved ivory figure group depicting
Fujiwara no Yasumasa and a bandit for $9,775. Two items each
bringing $9,200 were a rare early Eighteenth Century six-panel
Buddhistic screen and a Kamakura bronze temple vase dated 1325
from the Kyo Hokke-ji.
Day two comprised about 370 netsuke, ojime and inro, with the top
lot at $17,250 being an ivory netsuke by Okatomo in the form of a
carp and a waterwheel in curling waves. Other notable sales
included a five-case black and gold lacquer inro by Kajikawa with
netsuke and ojime, $15,525; an ivory netsuke by Tomotada in the
form of a puppy, $14,950; a Kyoto School ivory netsuke of a lion
and pup, $13,800; a wood netsuke of a frog, $9,200; and an ivory
netsuke of a dancing Fukurokuju, $8,625.
This Chinese Export carved wood sofa with carved cartouches of
sea life and exotic birds on the back and arms went to a Hong
Kong dealer for $25,300.
Jacoulet's work offered 110 lots with the top lot a
watercolor of a young woman of Guam selling for $6,325 to a
resident of Guam. Other notable prints were "The Substitute.
Mongolia," $5,175; the set of five Manchurian Princesses, $4,600;
"Young Girl of Polowat," $4,312; the extremely rare "Old South sea
Island Woman," $3,737; and the last lot of the sale, "On Tinian
Island. Marianas," $3,105.
The Japanese sale continued on Thursday with prints and included
a collection from the Forbes Library in Northampton, Mass. Some
of the top lots were an early Eighteenth Century print by
Masanobu of male and female warriors that brought $2,990, a print
by Charles W. Bartlett of the Taj Mahal dated 1916 sold for
$2,640 and three prints each selling for $2,530 were "Musashi
plain" of a fox viewing his reflection by Yoshitoshi, a Bijin
applying makeup by Kobayakawa Kiyo and a mountain range scene by
Umetaro Azechi.
The two-day Asian arts, with gross sales of $1,005,008, accounted
for nearly half of the week's sales. The strength of the Asian
sale was in the painting category that secured half of the top 20
lots. The top lot was a scroll painting in colored ink on paper
by Qi Baishi (1864-1975), "Ch'i Pai-Shih," for $106,000. Other
scroll paintings, which took the majority of the top honors,
included one of a blind musician attributed to Chiang Chiao-ho,
$39,100; a signed and seal marked painting on paper by Hsu
Pei-hung of bamboo in moonlight, $18,400; and a hand scroll on
silk by Ch'iu Ying depicting the beauties of China, $14,375.
Pair of inlaid silver vases, Meiji period, silver vases with
gold inlay in katakiribori design, $25,300.
Other notable scroll paintings included one on paper of a
yellow sunflower for $11,500, one on silk after Castiglione (Long
Shis-ning) of two dogs in a landscape for $11,400 and one by
Shih-fu Chiu Ying of figures in a landscape for $10,200. Other
paintings of note were one attributed to Lin Feng-men (1900-1991)
of a figure with a horse, $18,000and a collection of four mounted
album paintings, $10,200.
A Chinese Export carved wood sofa with exquisitely carved
cartouches of sea life and exotic birds on the back and arms was
purchased for $25,300 by a Hong Kong dealer. A 21-inch-tall
Seventeenth Century gilt bronze figure of Buddha sold for $11,500
and a 19-inch tall Ming dynasty bronze figures of Buddha brought
$9,600.
Some of the noteworthy porcelain pieces were a marked Yung Cheng
period blue and white dish for $10,350, a Yung Cheng period Wu
Ts'ai jar for $6,900, a Nineteenth Century carved celadon vase
for $6,325 and a collection of ten Nineteenth Century cups that
made ten times its estimate to sell at $6,000. Of the 318 snuff
bottles offered, the two top lots were interior painted glass
bottles by Ma Shao-hsuan, including a portrait bottle with
mandarin and calligraphy decoration for $11,400 and one in
rectangular form with calligraphy and fan decoration for $6,325.
Eighteenth Century ivory netsuke by Okatomo in the form of a
carp and wa-terwheel in curling waves, $17,250.
The jade section highlights were a cased scholar's set in
spinach green, $9,600, a white jade figure group with a ram and two
ewes, $8,050, and a white jade teapot in three lobed fruit form for
$7,475. An exquisite gold, diamond, enamel and pearl necklace
brought $9,200 and a set of four cloisonné enamel panels sold for
$9,000.
All prices quoted include the 15 percent buyer's premium.
For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com.
