Even Skinner’s old Asia hand Jim Callahan was surprised when an Eighteenth Century Chinese jade carving of three rams brought $171,000 at Skinner’s October 21 Asian arts sale.
It was the auction house’s strongest Asian sale ever. Bidding opened at $5,500 and danced around among bidders in the room, but in the end the competition was between a couple of telephone bidders. The pale greenish-white piece was estimated at $6/8,000 and Callahan thought it might bring as much as $40,000.
Other jade “rockets” included a stunningly carved pair of green jade table screens of the Ch’ien Lung period that opened at $10,000 and raced straight away to $116,000 from a bidder in the room and an Eighteenth Century jade cup in a translucent greenish-white that brought $105,000.
A full report of the sale will appear in a future edition.
—Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo
