EDINBURGH.- A blue and white vase from the estate of well known author of romantic novels, the late Lady Mary Stewart, sold for £289,250 at Lyon & Turnbull’s Sale of Fine Asian Works of Art on the 2nd December 2014. The sale made a total of £1,556,468.

Other items from the Lady Mary Stewart Collection included a carved Rhinoceros horn libation cup, which sold for £51,650 and a carved hardwood brush pot sold for £58,850. Lady Mary Stewart is most famous for her Arthurian trilogy: The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills (1973) and The Last Enchantment (1979) Passionate about collecting Chinese Works of Art, Lady Stewart put together a remarkable group of items during her lifetime.

An impressive and exceptionally rare celadon and blue glazed dragon charger sold for ££241,250, it came from a private Scottish collection, in Dumfrieshire, Scotland. The client's uncle was a prisoner-of-war in Japan during the second war and following his release he stayed in Japan working his way to become a successful businessman. He collected this and many other Chinese and Japanese works of art on his travels throughout Asia. Bringing them back to England in the 1950's when he set up home in Yorkshire and later Scotland.

Lee Young Asian International Director and Asian Specialist at Lyon & Turnbull said “This was a terrific result and moving the sale from Edinburgh closer to London has paid off. The blue and white vase was one of a number of items found in Scotland by our experts, which all sold really well. The saleroom was busy and we had many telephone bidders from Europe, the USA and Asia, the sale made a total of over £1.56 million.”

Among the other items found in Scotland in the sale was a pair of yellow dragon bowls belonging to an Empress, from the collection of a Glasgow shipping magnate, which sold for £31,250. The bowls come from the collection of Leonard Gow, the noted Glaswegian shipping magnate whose collection of Chinese porcelain was one of the most important in Britain in the first part of the 20th century.

Sourced from a private Scottish collection a pair of Doucai ‘Butterlies and Flowers’ medallion bowls sold for £91,250, the bowls are finely painted with four circular medallions with the flowers of the four seasons; lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and plum blossom, framed by stylised scrollwork. Also a rare blue and white ‘Li Shizi’ Wine Cup sold for £28,750.