Soldier Vases March to $307,200 in New York

NEW YORK CITY

:At Christie's, 303 lots of Chinese export art were offered at auction recently, with 239 lots sold to a packed room and busy phone lines.

The grand total for the day was $2.26 million, making the auction 85 percent sold by value.

"It was a thrilling day for Chinese export as lot 98, the important pair of soldier vases with the arms of Philip V of Spain, circa 1740, soared to $307,200, setting a world auction record for Chinese armorial porcelain," said Becky MacGuire, the firm's specialist in Chinese export art. "Bidders also competed fiercely for classic Kangxi period blue and white and famille verte porcelains from the collections of Alexander Saunderson and Deane F. Johnson, both formed in America in the postwar era. We were pleased to see that throughout the sale bidders and buyers hailed from Asia, Europe, North and South America."

Other highlights at the auction include two soldier vases and covers with the arms of Valdes y Tamón, one Chinese, circa 1740, the other Samson Porcelain, Nineteenth Century, selling for $138,000; as well as a lovely pair of Canton famille rose urns and covers, circa 1820, which brought $45,600.

A large hunting bowl from the last quarter of the Eighteenth Century sold at $48,000; a grisaille shipping bowl, circa 1785, sold for $36,000; and a rare Fables punch bowl, circa 1795, hammered down at $42,000. Additionally, an interesting pair of cockatiels from the Jiaqing period brought $52,800.

Dinner services also attracted a great deal of interest. An assembled blue Fitzhugh dinner service from the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century sold for $38,400; a set of Pronk porcelain dinner and soup plates, circa 1738, brought $33,600; and a Canton famille rose initialed dinner service, first quarter Nineteenth Century, sold for $132,00.

All prices include a 191/2 percent buyer's premium.