Inside the Chinese works of art circle, Sotheby's Asia Chairman Nicolas Chow is often referred to as the "golden boy" – he comes from a respected antique family, and his grandfather is the legendary Edward T. Chow (1910-1980), one of the most renowned collectors in the realm of Chinese ceramics.
This Hong Kong Spring Sales, Sotheby's brought to the market an assemblage of Chinese ceramics handpicked by Edward T. Chow in the 1960s. Mostly monochromes from the Song to Qing dynasties, these pieces had vanished from the market after being sold to a European collector over half a century ago.
On 9 April, the dedicated sale titled An Important European Collection of Chinese Ceramics - Acquired from Edward T. Chow eventually saw every 49 lots on offer sell, achieving the "white-glove" status.
With many lots soaring above estimates, the sale total came to HK$71.05 million (US$9.1 million), led by a guan-glazed octagonal bottle vase from the Song dynasty or later which fetched HK$20.4 million (US$2.6 million). As Nicolas Chow recalls, this piece was one of his grandfather's favourites.
Auctioneer Henry Howard-Sneyd received a white glove from Nicolas Chow
Lot 43 | A guan-glazed octagonal bottle vase
Song dynasty or later
Height: 22 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$16,500,000
Sold: HK$20,415,000 (US$2.6 million)
Offered with an opening bid of HK$8 million, the guan-glazed octagonal bottle vase sparked a tense competition between mainly four bidders: two bidding live in the room and two on the phone with Sotheby's specialists.
One of the room bidders dropped out at HK$11 million, and eleven bids were further placed before the hammer came down at a bid of HK$16.5 million, offered by the gentleman holding paddle number 5017. After fees, its final price came to HK$20.4 million (US$2.6 million).
Auctioneer Henry Howard-Sneyd hammered the lot down for HK$16,500,000
A gentleman holding paddle number 5017 won the present lot
One of the most renowned collectors in the realm of Chinese ceramics, Edward T. Chow was a significant figure in the postwar Chinese art scene, who navigated both the realms of a collector and a dealer with finesse.
His early training and mentorship laid the foundation for a remarkable network of prominent collectors. This illustrious list includes Sir Percival David (1892-1964), Barbara Hutton (1912-1979), and King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (1882-1973).
In the late 1960s, a prominent European collector visited Hong Kong on business and met a sophisticated lady at a society gathering. While the collector shared his interest in acquiring Chinese jade carvings, the lady suggested that his refined taste may be best suited for collecting Chinese monochrome ceramics and introduced him to Chow.
A time was set for them to gather at Chow’s home, and it was there that, on a velvet-covered table, Chow opened box after box. With solemnity, out of the last box, he pulled a vase, sublime in its angular form, cloaked in unctuous glazes suffused with fine crackles – the present lot.
Weeks later, those treasures left Hong Kong on two ships bound for Europe, never appearing on the market again.
Edward T. Chow (right) and Japanese dealer Goro Sakamoto (left)
That particular vase had left a mark on Chow's heart, and when he saw a similar example at a London auction in 1970, he became determined to take that one home as well.
After fierce competition against the Japanese dealer Goro Sakamoto, he ultimately won the piece, which later resided in the ATAKA Collection in Japan before entering The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka.
A legacy of the Southern Song dynasty, guan ("official") wares are renowned for their elegant form and unctuous glaze, emulating a restrained beauty that embodies the aesthetics of the period.
Having failed to defend their territory against the Jurchens in the north, the Song court withdrew to the south and established its capital in Hangzhou. Hoping to recover its former glory in arts, the emperor ordered new official kilns set up to produce refined wares in celadon glazes with veined crackles that had once exclusively defined the esteemed northern Ru wares.
Improving on their stylistic simplicity, with an emphasis on archaism favoured by the scholars of the period, the southern manufactory succeeded in creating elegant objects of its own right that captured the zeitgeist.
A guan celadon-glazed octagonal vase, Southern Song dynasty | The collection of The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
The thick, unctuous glaze of jade-like quality was accomplished thanks to the gradual application of multiple layers, further enhanced by a network of distinct crackles provoked by a well-controlled cooling process.
Reduction during firing was vital in achieving the signature cold bluish tone of guan wares, as well as the characteristic “purple mouths and iron feet” of the clay bodies exposed at the rims.
This type of octagonal vase is extremely rare, and only a handful of extant examples are known, all with subtle differences in their silhouettes.
A 'guan' octagonal vase, Southern Song dynasty | Sold: HK$113,880,000, Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2015
Notably, only two among the Five Great Kilns of the Song dynasty, the abovementioned Ru ware and the present Guan ware, have crossed the HK$100-million mark at auction.
The auction record for Guan ware of the Song dynasty went to a similar octagonal vase, which achieved more than HK$113 million (US$14.5 million) at auction. It was formerly in the collection of famous dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi and Mayuyama & Co. in Japan.
Lot 20 | A pair of ruby-pink and famille-rose 'lychee' cups
Marks and period of Yongzheng
Diameter: 8.6 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$7,000,000
Sold: HK$8,890,000 (US$1.1 million)
Famille rose, French for "pink family," was a new enamel palette that emerged under European influence in the 17th century.
During the Kangxi period, new pigments were brought to the imperial court by Jesuit missionaries and subsequently developed in the imperial ateliers to different recipes than those used in Europe, achieving a variety of shades from bright pink to purplish.
Among the new foreign enamels, the ruby, which provides the exceptionally vibrant crushed raspberry tone on these cups' exterior, was arguably the most special, not only because it was dramatically different from all locally created colors, but also because it was derived from colloidal gold.
Exquisitely painted on the interior with a spray of lychee in fencai – enamels that appear more powdery under the famille-rose palette and generally referred to as famille-rose by auction houses – the present cups are extremely rare and no other examples seem to be recorded.
Although the combination of fencai and puce enamels was already employed in the last years of the Kangxi reign and continued into the early Yongzheng period, extant examples are rare and differ in shape and design, usually featuring multiple fruits.
For instance, there was a pair of Kangxi reign-marked famille rose ruby-back wine cups offered at China Guardian Auction Hong Kong. Coming from the collection of Hong Kong shipping tycoon T. Y. Chao, the cups are painted with a group of different fruits and seeds, eventually fetching HK$11.6 million.
A pair of Kangxi reign-marked famille rose ruby-back wine cups | Sold: HK$11,616,000, China Guardian Auctions Hong Kong, 2023
Lot 17 | A ge-type cup
Qing dynasty, 18th century or earlier
Diameter: 8 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$600,000 - 800,000
Hammer Price: HK$4,300,000
Sold: HK$5,461,000
Ge ware, renowned as one of the Five Great Kilns of the Song dynasty, has been highly prized and sought after by collectors since it was first introduced a thousand years ago. Extremely rare, surviving examples of Ge ware are mostly kept in the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei.
The most distinguished feature of Ge porcelain is its stained crackle glaze, a pattern achieved by the precise manipulation of different degrees of shrinkage between the glaze and body material.
With its one-of-a-kind charm, Ge ware has captivated the hearts of many connoisseurs. Qing Emperors, known for their passion for antiquity, were no exception.
During the Qing dynasty, these revered wares were reproduced at the imperial kilns under the supervision of the legendary imperial potter Tang Ying, the products of which were known as "ge-type" wares. And the present lot testifies to the continued celebration and reproduction of such wares centuries after the Song dynasty.
Other Highlight Lots:
Lot 26 | A pair of doucai 'immortal' bowls
Marks and period of Yongzheng
Diameter: 10.9 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$4,200,000
Sold: HK$5,334,000
Lot 14 | A pair of rose-pink enamelled cups
Marks and period of Yongzheng
Diameter: 8.4 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,600,000
Sold: HK$3,302,000
Lot 31 | A tianbai-glazed incised 'lotus' chess jar
Ming dynasty, Yongle period
Width: 17.1 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,800,000
Sold: HK$2,286,000
Lot 39 | A blue and white 'floral scroll' bowl
Mark and period of Xuande
Diameter: 17.5 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-80)
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,700,000
Sold: HK$2,159,000
Lot 10 | A guan-glazed quadruple vase
Seal mark and period of Yongzheng
Height: 9.9 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$1,200,000 - 1,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,400,000
Sold: HK$1,778,000
Lot 56 | A pair of green-glazed seated lions
6th - 7th century
Height: 14 cm
Provenance:
- C.T. Loo & Cie, Paris
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$200,000 - 300,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,100,000
Sold: HK$1,397,000
Lot 30 | A guan-glazed double-gourd vase
17th - 18th century
Height: 15.5 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$100,000 - 150,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,000,000
Sold: HK$1,270,000
Lot 27 | A pair of 'boneless' famille-rose saucer dishes
Marks and period of Yongzheng
Diameter: 10.9 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$100,000 - 150,000
Hammer Price: HK$750,000
Sold: HK$952,500
Lot 45 | A Longquan celadon mallet vase
Song - Yuan dynasty
Height: 15.8 cm
Provenance:
- Acquired from Edward T. Chow (1910-80) in the late 1960s
Estimate: HK$150,000 - 200,000
Hammer Price: HK$700,000
Sold: HK$889,000
Auction Details:
Sale: An Important European Collection of Chinese Ceramics - Acquired from Edward T. Chow
Date: 9 April 2024
Number of Lots: 49
Sold: 49
Sale Rate: 100%
Sale Total: HK$71,052,440 (US$9.1 million)