The highest price of both days went to this Chinese bronze bowl, 14¼ inches in diameter, which came on a stand and polished off at $7,680 ($3/5,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
HANOVER, MASS. — Usually operating out of East Dennis, Mass., Eldred’s chose to conduct its January 16-17 Asian Art auction at its Hanover gallery. Over the course of two days, the firm offered 441 lots of scroll paintings, porcelain, jade, Japanese prints and more. At the sale’s conclusion, it totaled $120,000.
“The sale did well, given the amount of dealer inventory,” shared Annie Lajoie, head of Asian and Contemporary Art at Eldred’s. “The highlights were driven by private collections. For instance, the scrolls we sold at this sale were primarily from one Vermont collector who has many more that we will be featuring in more upcoming Asian sales.”
Lajoie continued: “Given the broad range of what we brought to market, I am happy with what sold, especially on behalf of our private collectors and estates. I am particularly pleased in the uptick of the sales of Japanese decorative arts and antiques, and plan on re-incorporating more in the sales to come.”
Leading both days of the sale was a Chinese bronze bowl or censer on a stand, which crossed the block during session two on January 17. Dated to the Nineteenth Century or earlier, the polished, 23-pound bowl had a six-character mark on its underside. It was a “fine quality censer, under-estimated and most likely period,” said Lajoie, and was bought by a customer in Vietnam for $7,680.
“Tancho Crane” by Toshi Yoshida (Japanese, 1911-1995), 1988, woodblock print, 17 by 32 inches framed, numbered “204/1200” was the highest price of session one: $6,400 ($700/900).
Session one saw the woodblock print “Tancho Crane” by Toshi Yoshida take home the highest price of the day, $6,400. Lajoie noted, “We had sold another one of these within the past four years for $1,100 (hammer) and were hoping to get the same results. It’s very exciting to see that there was this much interest, as Twentieth Century Japanese print makers are becoming more popular and recognizable. This one sold online and is headed to a private collector in the Southwest. It was part of a private collection of prints purchased directly from Kanda’s gallery in Tokyo in 1990 while the couple was overseas on a teaching assignment.”
Also during session one, six assorted Chinese carved jade figures sculpted a $3,840 finish. The figures came in various shades of white, yellow and gray jade; the white ones, according to Lajoie, were “the most requested for photography prior to the sale. Color, age and carving play[ed] into the price of the lot, which is headed to New Jersey.”
A cylindrical paneled vase by Shiro Tsujimura was the third-place finish in session two, selling for $3,840 to a Florida buyer. “We are happy to see a resurgence in the Japanese market, especially studio pottery such as this Shiro Tsujimura,” explained Lajoie.
This Seventeenth Century Tibetan thangka, 18 by 14 inches, oil on cloth, depicted two central deities surrounded by six smaller bodhisattvas and painted a $4,160 finish ($1/1,200).
Two Tibetan thangkas did particularly well during session two, with one from the Seventeenth Century earning $4,160, the second-highest price of the day. It was “consigned from a private source, the husband was a world traveler and mountain climber. It is thought that he may have bought this when climbing Everest,” Lajoie reported. It will head to France.
The second thangka, from the same private collection, was dated to the late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century and surpassed its $800-$1,000 estimate to achieve $2,560, selling to a Connecticut buyer over the phone.
“We are in the process of re-vamping the Asian sales that we hold throughout the year,” shared Lajoie. “We would like to continue holding smaller sales of private collections and estates.” With that being said, Asian Arts at Eldred’s will hold its next two-day, 400 lot sale on March 6-7.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com.
