Sotheby’s second day in New York Asia Week was all about Chinese works of art. A selection of Ming and Qing imperial jades and cloisonné enamels, all from the Brooklyn Museum, went to the auction block earlier today. The star lot that carried the sale's highest pre-sale estimate of US$1m to US$1.5m, a Qing-dynasty white and russet jade brush pot, was hammered down for a within-estimate US$1.1m.
The sell-through rate, meanwhile, was an impressive 98% by lot, though, quite a number of the cloisonné enamel lots were hammered down below their pre-sale low estimates and one failed to sell.
Lot 14 | A white and russet jade brush pot
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)
Height: 18.7 cm
Provenance:
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Collection of Robert B. Woodward (1840-1915)
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Gifted to the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, in 1914 (acc. no. 14.282)
Estimate: US$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Hammer price: US$1,100,000
Price realized: US$1,351,000
All eyes were on this Qing-dynasty jade brush pot that led the 45-lot sale. Bequeathed to the Museum by collector Robert B. Woodward (1840-1915), alongside a bequest of jades, the present lot is truly an extraordinary work of art. The lot was also backed by a guarantee ahead of the sale to ensure it would sell.
The bids started at US$600,000 and two interested collectors online kicked off the bidding. A client on the phone with Meghan Steele, Sotheby’s Sale Director of the Luxury department jumped in at US$750,000. The price climbed rather slowly throughout the four-minute bidding process and was mainly between the client with Steele and an online bidder.
After accepting a slightly unusual bid increment from Steele’s client, from US$1m to US$1.05m, the auctioneer brought down the hammer at US$1.1m, selling the jade brush pot to the adamant online bidder with the paddle number 106, at US$1,351,000 with premium.
Unravels like a scroll painting with the turning of the jade brush pot, the cylindrical vessel is carved in varying levels of a continuous landscape enclosing a single scholar mounted on horseback and preceded by an attendant pushing a wheeled cart surmounted by a songbird.
Closer looks at the Qing-dynasty white and russet jade brush pot
Raised on five splayed ruyi-form feet, a part of the brush pot’s surface is left uncarved to demonstrate the pure white coloration of the stone, accompanied by occasional patches of russet staining.
With the quelling of the Xinjiang rebellions, an influx of massive jade boulders from Xinjiang to China began in the 24th year of “The Jade Fanatic,” Emperor Qianlong's reign (1735-1796). Carved from a substantial stone, the present lot is truly an impressive piece that similar works would have been nearly impossible prior to the Qianlong period.
Lot 20 | An cloisonné enamel “bats and clouds” vase
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Height: 39.3 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Robert Hoe III (1839-1909)
- American Art Association, New York, February 18, 1911, lot 812
- Collection of Samuel P. Avery, Jr. (1847-1920)
- Gifted to the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, in 1911 (acc. no. 09.478)
Estimate: US$300,000 - 500,000
Hammer price: US$250,000
Price realized: US$315,000
Meanwhile, another lot that the auction house had high hopes for, was a vase donated to the Brooklyn Museum by art dealer and collector Samuel P. Avery, Jr. (1847-1920). After the auctioneer began the bid at US$150,000, two phone bidders, respectively with Angela McAteer, Senior Vice President of Sotheby’s New York and Cindy Qi, the auction house’s Associate Cataloguer, steadily drove the price up to the hammer price of US$250,000, just shy of the presale low estimte. It was Qi, in the end, who won the vase for her client with the paddle number L0039.
The same bidder also took home at least two other jade vessels in the sale: lot 4, a celadon jade reticulated “peony” box and lot 13, a spinach-green jade circular table screen.
A closer look at the cloisonné enamel “bats and clouds” vase
Reserved on a turquoise ground, the cloisonné enamel vase is lavishly decorated with red enabled bats and light blue clouds. The hues are reminiscent of copper-red bats and washes of cobalt blue clouds often found on porcelain wares, so is the inclusion of the stepped gilt-rim at the shoulder.
Such masterful transfers of a porcelain form and design into cloisonné enamel are very rare and only a relatively small number of vessels of this category are known to date.
The design of the present vase is also replete with auspicious meaning in traditional Chinese culture. Bats often represent fortune or blessing in Chinese, while the scrolling clouds decoration is homophonous with yun, or luck in Chinese.
Brooklyn Museum, New York
All lots offered in the sale were from the Brooklyn Museum, many of which had been part of the Museum’s collection for over a century. Founded in 1895, the Brooklyn Museum boasts one of the most significant collections of Asian art in the US. Last fall, more than 20 works were deaccessioned by the museum, which raised a total of US$31m across the sales in the US and Europe.
Asian Galleries, located on the second floor of the museum
Samuel P. Avery, Jr. and Colonel Robert B. Woodward were two of the most important early patrons of the museum, each contributed a significant portion of the collection to the museum.
The sale presented a selection of imperial-quality cloisonné vessels from the Avery Collection and exquisite fine jades from the Woodward Collection.
As Sotheby's Hong Kong counterparts are getting ready for the marquee spring sale, this strong effort achieved in New York today definitely served as quite an exciting beginning of the season.
Here are the remaining top lots of the sale:
Lot 8 | An inscribed pale celadon jade table screen
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)
Height: 27.6 cm
Provenance:
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Collection of Mr. and Mrs. James Leipner
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Gifted to Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, in 1976 (acc. no. 76.180)
Estimate: US$300,000 - 500,000
Hammer price: US$470,000
Price realized: US$588,700
Lot 24 | A hexagonal cloisonné enamel “lotus” baluster vase
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Height: 34.7 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Robert Hoe III (1839-1909)
- American Art Association, New York, February 18, 1911, lot 862
- Collection of Samuel P. Avery, Jr. (1847-1920)
- Gifted to the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, in 1911 (acc. no. 09.543)
Estimate: US$250,000 - 350,000
Hammer price: US$250,000
Price realized: US$315,000
Lot 17 | A cloisonné enamel censer and cover
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Height: 43.4 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Samuel P. Avery, Jr. (1847-1920)
- Gifted to The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, in 1909 (acc. no. 09.485a-b)
Estimate: US$200,000 - 300,000
Hammer price: US$95,000
Price realized: US$119,700
Lot 15 | A pair of spinach-green jade “immortals' parfumiers”
Qing dynasty, Qianlong period
Height: 24.7 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Robert B. Woodward (1840-1915)
- Gifted to the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, in 1914 (acc. no. 14.342a-b)
Estimate: US$150,000 - 250,000
Hammer price: US$650,000
Price realized: US$806,500
Auction Summary:
Auction house: Sotheby’s New York
Sale: Imperial Cloisonné & Jade: Chinese Art from The Brooklyn Museum
Date: March 17, 2021
Lots offered: 45
Sold: 44
Sale by lot: 98%
Sale total: US$5,806,488