NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams announces Asia Week New York from March 18 to 20, which includes a series of four auctions - Chinese Works of Art on March 18, Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art on March 19, Fine Japanese and Korean Art on March 20, as well as a special sale of Fine Japanese Prints including Property from the Collection of the late Bertram and Ruth Malenka. Bonhams will also present an exceptional non-selling exhibition Glass Mountains, Silver Moon, A Special Exhibition of Masterpieces of Japanese Art from a Private Collection and will be on view starting March 14.
Chinese Works of Art
March 18 at 10am
Bonhams sale of Chinese Works of Art features over 260 lots, which includes exceptional furniture, a strong selection of snuff bottles, early pottery, classical and modern paintings. Highlighting the sale is a magnificent and massive pair of huanghuali hat chests with fine inlay decoration, 17th/18th century (estimate: $200,000-300,000). From the Collection of Virginia Hobart (1876-1958) of San Francisco, daughter of timber and mining magnate William S Hobart, is an exceptionally rare pair of Yongzheng mark and period imperial famille rose ‘quail’ bowls (estimate: $300,000-500,000) and a rare numbered junyao narcissus bowl (estimate: $80,000-120,000). Also featured in the sale is a commemorative solid gold bracelet (1839-1841) a gift to Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson (estimate: $20,000-30,000); a rare gold and silver inlaid 'double fowl' vase, Ming dynasty (estimate: $40,000-60,000); and a ‘henan’ black glazed russet-painted jar, Northern Song/Jin dynasty (estimate: $8,000-12,000).
Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art
March 19 at 5pm
Bonhams sale of Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art focuses on private collections from Europe and the USA comprised of approximately 175 lots charting an impressively diverse array Himalayan sculpture and painting, Indian sculpture and painting, Southeast Asian sculpture, and a section devoted to the Art of Sri Lanka. The sale’s highlights include a spectacular 17th-century Tibetan gilt bronze sculpture of Mahakala Panjaranata (estimate: $800,000-1,200,000) – an important protector deity in Tibetan Buddhist statecraft. The sale also includes a 15th-century Tibetan gilt bronze sculpture of Bhurkumkuta – an exceptionally rare Buddhist deity worshipped to cure illness – from the prestigious Nyingjei Lam Collection (estimate: $200,000-300,000). Among the sale’s Sri Lankan section is a rare and early bronze figure Buddha seated in meditation from the 8th-century (estimate: $40,000-60,000) evoking the great sage’s stillness of mind.
Fine Japanese Prints including Property from the Collection of the late Bertram and Ruth Malenka
March 20 at 10am
Fine Japanese Prints including Property from the Collection of the late Bertram and Ruth Malenka brings together a carefully selected group prints in 184 lots, spanning from the 18th century through 20th century. Leading the sale is an early impression of the iconic Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the Well of Great Wave Off Kanagawa, known simply as “The Great Wave” (estimate: $250,000-350,000). The Malenka collection also features shin hanga works by notable masters such as, Ito Shinsui, Kawase Hasui, Hashiguchi Goyo and Torii Kotondo. From other sources comes a rare alternate version of Hokusai’s Sanka haku-u (Rainstorm beneath the Summit) from the series 36 Views of Mt. Fuji (Estimate: $20,000-30,000). It has rarely appeared at auction and only a few examples exist in museums, including one in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Fine Japanese and Korean Art
March 20 at 1pm
The sale of Fine Japanese and Korean Art comprises 197 lots, representing works from a variety of collecting categories including ceramics, lacquer, cloisonné, screens, paintings, and arts of the samurai. Featured in the Japanese section are a rare pair of Hampton Court vases, named after a similar pair in Mary’s collection at Hampton Court Palace, (estimate: $100,000-150,000); an exceptional tall and fine hexagonal cloisonné-enamel vase decorated with wisteria and butterflies by Yasuyuki Namikawa (estimate: $150,000-200,000); a fully articulated and lifelike silver model of a carp by Takase Kozan (estimate: $80,000-120,000); and a pair of six-panel screens of depicting the flowers of the four seasons from the studio of Tawaraya Sotatsu from a private New York collection (estimate: $40,000-60,000). Highlights from the Korean art section includes a rare white porcelain reticulated flowerpot stand from the 19th century (estimate: $15,000-25,000), and an underglaze copper-red decorated porcelain jar painted with stands of bamboo (estimate: $40,000-60,000), formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dickes, included in the groundbreaking exhibition The Art of the Korean Potter held at the Asia House gallery in 1968.
Non-Selling Exhibition
Bonhams will also present a special non-selling exhibition Glass Mountains, Silver Moon, A Special Exhibition of Masterpieces of Japanese Art from a Private Collection. The group of 6 outstanding works, which includes a set of 12 mixed-metal plaques, demonstrates just how brilliantly the artist-entrepreneurs of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Japan adapted old techniques and created new ones in a bid to revive failing craft industries and make their products appeal to new audiences both at home and abroad.
