Cape Cod auction house Eldred’s packed up some 1,200 Asian art objects, its staff, and trekked over the canal to greater Boston for a two-day sale December 2 and 3. The auction house tried an “off Cape” location last December and it proved worthwhile. While no one minds going to the Cape in the spring, summer or fall, winter travel can be iffy. So, the mountain came to Mohammed. Auctioneer and head of Eldred’s Asian arts department, John Scofield, was pleased with the location and the facility.
Jade was the story of the day, as it has been at most recent Asian arts sales. An Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century imperial oval celadon jade bowl, carved with five clawed dragons and clouds, attracted much interest and sold to an agent in the room who was on the phone with a dealer in China for $58,650. The large (11¾-inch-diameter) bowl had been part of the collection of Sam Bernstein, the San Francisco scholar and dealer in Chinese arts.
A 14¼-inch-tall white jade covered vase in a pear shape and carved with a lion’s head and loose ring handles sold online to an Asian buyer for $24,150, and a late Nineteenth Century white jade covered Moghul-style koro with foliate carving, loose ring handles and a domed cover with a flower finial sold to the Chinese trade for $20,700. An elegant Nineteenth Century pair of white jade bowls in lotus form measured 6½ inches and sat on carved wood stands; the pair realized $19,550.
A Nineteenth Century reticulated ovoid white jade censer with a flared base attracted $17,250, as did a white jade covered vase. The vase was carved in quadruple-lobed temple jar form with loose ring handles and a river landscape on one side, a bird and pine tree design on the other.
A 4-inch white jade mountain in pebble form and carved with sages in pavilions beneath pine trees sold for $8,050, while a late Nineteenth Century white jade carved figure of Quan Yin seated in a grotto with an incense burner and a lotus made $5,750.
A silver and white jade potpourri with a pierced bird and flower design, which may have been made from Eighteenth Century pieces with Nineteenth Century silver mounts, realized $4,313; a white jade two-handled marriage bowl, carved on the interior with fish, sold for $4,025.
From a Cape Cod consignor to the Hong Kong trade, a Kang Xi blue and white porcelain vase decorated with court figures brought $18,400, far exceeding an $800/900 estimate. A Twentieth Century porcelain vase with scenes of sages, a wine pot of a woman burning incense and calligraphic panels had a four-character mark on the base and sold for $7,475. It is thought to have been the work of a highly respected Chinese artist.
Bearing the six-character Ch’ien Lung mark on the base, a porcelain vase decorated with famille rose bird and floral cartouches with archaic style masks and mock ring handles realized $4,600. It came from the collection of the late Howard Kastriner, as did a polychrome porcelain vase with a mockingbird and prunus decoration that drew $3,738.
A pair of baluster-form famille verte porcelain vases with trumpet mouths and decorated with landscapes attracted $3,105, as did a porcelain vase in amphora form and peach bloom glaze and bearing the six-character K’ang Hsi mark.
Also bearing the six-character K’ang Hsi mark, a white porcelain writer’s coupe in beehive form with underglaze red porcelain dragon medallions sold for $3,335.
There were several Buddha figures offered, including a Ming dynasty partial-gilt-bronze seated figure holding a scroll and wearing a pierced headdress, which came from a Cape Cod collection, that brought $14,950. A Ming dynasty partial-gilt-bronze figure of a scholar holding a fan and a double gourd-form bottle went for $4,025, and a gilt-bronze Buddha seated on a lotus throne fetched $5,750.
Wine was a popular theme: a Nineteenth Century 17-inch-tall polychrome ivory figure of a woman holding a wine pot attracted $5,175, and a bamboo carving of Li T’ai Po holding a wine cup as a youth at his feet drinks from a wine pot went for $3,450, against the estimated $700/900.
A late Nineteenth Century ivory openwork vase that was 14½ inches tall with bird and floral decoration realized $5,750; a Seventeenth Century ivory brush pot engraved with a landscape and calligraphy sold for $4,888.
Japanese Meiji period objects from the Kastriner collection attracted interest. An ivory figure of a woman holding a ball of flowers with streamers in which a child plays sold for $6,325. The figure retained a museum accession number and a partial label on the base.
A Kinkozan Satsuma vase in an inverted pear shape with a riverine landscape on one face and ducks and flowers on the other also fetched $6,325. A Satsuma box by noted potter Ryozan, born Nishimura Zengoro, was decorated on the cover with a scene of a family viewing cherry blossoms; it realized $5,750. A seed-form Satsuma bottle vase decorated with a landscape and signed “Kyozan” sold for $5,175; a conical-form Satsuma vase decorated with a scene of women beneath wisteria trees and bearing a gilt signature sold for $4,025; and an ovoid Kinkozan vase decorated with landscapes, and bearing an impressed signature and a paper label, sold for $3,450.
A Nineteenth Century Chinese brush pot in blackwood and sandalwood with hardstone inlay had exterior panels decorated with flowering branches and domestic scenes against landscapes that slid away to reveal intimate domestic scenes. From the Kastriner collection, it sold for $6,900.
A Meiji period cloisonné enamel tray decorated with a bird and prunus on a pale blue ground sold for $3,450.
Of a group of netsukes, the highlight was an ebony example by Kagatoshi carved in the form of a wine jar with a brocade cover that opens to reveal an interior carved in ivory with three shojo drinking sake. It sold for $5,175.
Carved in the form of a seated man carving a mask, a wood example by Rakumin was estimated at $400/500 and sold for $2,300. A Nineteenth Century ivory fan with carved guards and a silk needlework of peacocks and peonies on one side and cranes and bamboo on the other realized $3,450.
One of the very few pieces of furniture in the auction was an 82½-inch-tall hung mu wood cabinet in two parts with a bamboo design and relief carving that sold for $3,220.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium.
For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com .
