Christie’s New York has unveiled the upcoming auction schedule for the spring Asian Art Week. Taking place from March 16 to 19, a total of seven sales and events - both virtually and at the Rockefeller Plaza galleries in New York, will showcase works from different categories of Asian art, spanning across archaic bronzes from the Daniel Shapiro Collection, jade carvings from the Junkunc Collection, Himalayan bronzes, to paintings and prints by Hokusai, Tyeb Mehta, Francis Newton Souza and more.
Here is an overview of the sales, together with the highlight lots:
Japanese and Korean Art
The sale features an array of prints and paintings such as the most important print of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by kiyo-e master Kitagawa Utamaro and Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, a six-panel folding screen by Kanō Einō, created in the Edo period of Japan. Selections of lacquer works, metalworks, screens and important Korean Works of Art will also be presented in this sale.
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), The Great Wave off Kanagawa | Woodblock prints
Painted in: 1831
Estimate: US$150,000 - 200,000
Kanō Einō (1631-1697), Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons
Sale: Japanese and Korean Art
Provenance: The Estate of Miriam S. Poser Collection
Estimate: US$50,000 - 70,000
South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art
The sale is led by early works by Indian painter Tyeb Mehta, Confidant, together with other works by modern masters Maqbool Fida Husain, Sayed Haider Raza and Narayan Shridhar Bendre.
Tyeb Mehta, Untitled (Confidant, 1962) | oil on canvas
Sale: South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art
Dimensions: 101.6 x 126.4 cm
Painted in 1962
Estimate: US$600,000 - 800,000
Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), Untitled | Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 105.4 x 59.4 cm
Painted in 1961
Estimates: US$150,000 - 250,000
Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art
Featuring fine Buddist and Hindu artworks from across Indian, Himalayas, and Southeast Asia, the sale is led by a selection of Gandharan sculptures, which often demonstrate similarities with ancient Greek works, thanks to Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism.
Gray Schist Figure of Buddha Shakyamuni
Ancient Region of Gandhara, 3rd-4th Century CE
Height: 175 cm
Estimate: US$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Shang: Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes from the Daniel Shapiro Collection
A highlight of this year’s Asian Art Week, The Luboshez Gong is the one to watch. A part of a Chinese artwork collection formed over a span of 25 years, amassed by American collector Daniel Shapiro, the rare bronze ritual wine vessel dates back to the Shang dynasty (late 13th to 12th century BC. It carries a pre-sale estimate of US$4m to US$6m - higher than any other lots going under hammer in the Asian Art Week of Christie’s.
The Luboshez Gong - A Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel, Late Shang dynasty, Anyang
Provenance:
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Acquired by Captain S.N. Ferris Luboshez (1896-1984) in Shanghai in 1948
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Important Chinese Ceramics - Bronzes and Works of Art: The Collection of Captain S.N. Ferris Luboshez, USN (Ret'd) Sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, November 18, 1982, Lot 12
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Private collection, Switzerland, 1982-1996
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James J. Lally, New York, 1996
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Daniel Shapiro Collection, New York
Estimate: US$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
A Bronze Ritual Rectangular Wine Vessel, Fangyi, Late Shang dynasty, Anyang
Height: 22 cm
Provenance:
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The Collection of Mildred R. and Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, New York
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Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, November 4, 1978, lot 318
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James J. Lally, New York, 1992
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Daniel Shapiro Collection, New York
Estimate: US$600,000 - 800,000
Important Chinese Art from the Junkunc Collection
Present in the sale is a myriad of early Chinese bronzes, Buddhist figures, lacquers, and scholar’s objects amassed by Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978) - a Budapest-born Chinese art collector. The Junkunc Collection, at its height numbered over 2,000 examples of exceptional Chinese porcelain, jade, bronzes, paintings and Buddhist sculptures.
A White And Yellowish-Brown Jade Camel, Tang-Yuan dynasty
Height: 6.7 cm
Provenance:
- Tonying & Co., New York, 1946
- Stephen Junkunc, III (1904-1978) Collection
Estimate: US$300,000 - 500,000
Gilt Silver “Dragon & Phoenix” Sheath, Liao/ Yuan dynasty
Length: 21.7 cm
Provenance: Stephen Junkunc, III (1904-1978) Collection
Estimate: US$150,000 - 250,000
A Miniature Yellow Jade Faceted Pear-Shaped Jar with Cover, Qing dynasty, Qianlong or earlier
Height: 8.6 cm
Provenance:
- Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, September 3, 1946
- Stephen Junkunc, III (1904-1978) Collection
Estimate: US$100,000 - 150,000
A 17th/ 18th-Century White Jade Figure of a Mythical Beast
Length: 9 cm
Provenance: Stephen Junkunc, III (1904-1978) Collection
Estimate: US$100,000 - 150,000
A Carved White Jade Figure of Buddha, Qing dynasty
Height: 12.7 cm
Provenance: Stephen Junkunc, III (1904-1978) Collection
Estimate: US$80,000 - 120,000
Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
One of the routine sales every season, the sale covers everything from Chinese furniture, Ming and Qing porcelain, to Buddhist sculptures, jades, and works of art. With Chinese furniture receiving such positive response at auctions for a number of seasons, this year’s highlight - a 17th-century huanghuali incense stand that dates back to the Qing dynasty, carries a pre-sale estimate of US$800,000 to US$1,200,000.
A Hexagonal Huanghuali Incense Stand, 17th Century
Dimensions: 88.9 x 57.2 x 49.2 cm
Provenance:
- Nicolas Grindley Works of Art, Ltd., London
- Eskenazi Ltd., London
Estimate: US$800,000 - 1,200,000
A Large Gilt-Lacquered Wood Figure of a Bodhisattva, Qing dynasty, Kangxi
Height: 70 cm (figure); 94.1 cm (overall)
Provenance:
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M.C. Hammonds Collection, acquired in the 1930s
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M. C. Hammonds Foundation, Switzerland, 1995
Estimate: US$300,000 - 500,000