Offering 24 lots, the “Chinese Art from Two American Private Collections” sale will be held on 5 April; most of them are carefully selected by the renowned antique dealer and connoisseur, James Lally, and some of the selections even comes from his previous collections, including the Guan lobed dish from Southern Song dynasty and the Junyao purple and lavender-blue glazed tripod circular narcissus bowl from Ming dynasty. They are the highest and the second-highest estimated lots of the sale respectively.

Lally specializes in Chinese art. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a director of Chinese works of art at Sotheby’s in New York and Hong Kong, and was named president of Sotheby’s in North America. He then left the auction house and founded his own business, J. J. Lally & Co., which is now widely recognized as one of the finest Chinese art galleries in the world.

The celadon jade figure of a recumbent water buffalo from the 17th century is the third-highest estimated lot of the sale. It is exceptionally large among jade items with a size almost reaching a feet. It belongs to Mary Anna Marten, the goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, and appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset and OBE in 1979. She was also an archaeologist, who served as Trustee of the British Museum from 1985 until 1998.

Top Lots

AN IMPORTANT AND RARE GUAN LOBED DISH
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY - YUAN DYNASTY

Lot No.: 1106
Diameter: 18.5 cm
Estimate: HK$10,000,000-15,000,000

AN EXCEPTIONAL JUNYAO PURPLE AND LAVENDER-BLUE GLAZED TRIPOD CIRCULAR NARCISSUS BOWL
EARLY MING DYASTY

Lot No.: 1107
Diameter: 20.3 cm
Estimate: HK$8,000,000-12,000,000

A LARGE CELADON JADE FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT WATER BUFFALO
17TH CENTURY

Lot No.: 1109
Size: 29.9 cm
Estimate: HK$8,000,000-10,000,000

Sale Details

Auction House: Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Sale: Chinese Art from Two American Private Collections
Sale No.: HK0767
Lot No.: 24
Viewing:
2017/3/31  10am-5:30pm
2017/4/1-2  10am-8pm
2017/4/3-4  10am-6:30pm
Sale Time: 2017/4/5  10:30am