Catalog (321)

From our Chinese Polychrome Collection, a high quality Rose Medallion plate, 19th century either Tongzhi Period (1862-1874) or Guangxu Period (1875-1908). Executed in the typical palette of pinks, blues, greens, yellows, whites and gilt with four individual cartouches: Two contain various figures usually representing scenes from either The Romance of the Western Chamber or The Dream of Red Mansions, the other two contain birds and foliage. All are set against a ground of flowering tendrils and g...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a very good and sizeable pastel impressionist piece by Luis Bodes of Alhambra Spain, depicting two couples in a forest landscape. Executed in earthy tones of various greens, browns, rust, straw color, taupe and white, this piece has a natural tranquility to it we felt was universally appealing.

Those who understand painting well, and in particular, those who appreciate the limitations of working in pastel, are familiar with the challenges in ac...

From our Fine Arts and Americana Collection, a very good and sizeable original oil on canvas seascape from Peruvian artist Fernando Giron of Miraflores Peru. Executed in a warm earth tone palette of various browns, sea-green, pale yellow, pale orange, and white, depicting crashing waves upon a beach at sunset with gulls in the foreground, this is a very nicely painted and evocative piece.

Giron is apparently not well-known yet beyond the Miraflores / Lima art circle, but this could change...

From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a fine Qianlong Period (1736-1795) large export porcelain dish or small charger, depicting "Three Friends of Winter," pine, prunus, and bamboo, in a fenced garden setting with floral sprigs and cash diaper motifs on the border. The reverse is plain.

This is an unusually well-executed example of 18th century export ware. The painting is very refined and precise, with delicate shading to the flowers, and a wonderful sense of restraint and proporti...

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a superbly carved sandalwood Ganesh from the city of Jasailmer in the Rajasthan region of India. Ganesh, the Hindu God of Wisdom, is revered by the entire religion regardless of sect, and is depicted here atop a tiered double lotus throne, in one of his typical incarnations with his easily recognizable elephant head, regal headdress, and accompanied by a snake and his rat transports.

When we travel to collect pieces, we shop with a very discerning ...

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a superbly carved sandalwood buddha from the city of Jasailmer in the Rajasthan region of India. This buddha sits in padmasana (interlocking lotus position) upon a double lotus base while displaying vitarka mudra with the right hand, and holding what is probably a kalasa pot in the left hand.

When we travel to collect pieces, we shop with a very discerning eye. There is a vast multitude of shlocky handicrafts around that no doubt, please the casual...

From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, an exceptionally rare Kangxi Period (1662-1722) porcelain dish made in the Transitional Period style, depicting a man and two boys in the center well, with the border executed in a facsimile of the Border IX Transitional Period kraakware design of 1635-1650. Maura Rinaldi discusses the Border IX design in "Kraak Porcelain, A Moment in the History of Trade" p. 112-115.

This dish is a highly obscure and esoteric item that is probably best suited on...

From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very rare Kangxi Period (1662-1722) porcelain dish, which is actually a Kangxi version of an earlier Japanese version of yet an even earlier Ming kraakware design, depicting a flower basket in the center medallion, surrounded by ogival panels of buddhist objects and auspicious symbols in the outer border, all very well-painted in varying shades of good Kangxi blue with an excellent glaze.

To novice eyes, this dish probably looks like just anot...

From our Early Chinese Collection, a large Machang Phase jar from the Majiayao Culture (2300 - 2000 BC), originating from what is now Gansu province, China. Of well-known and documented form, this fascinating vessel is approximately 4,000 years old and comes with an Oxford TL test. Larger and better potted than is usually found, it is painted with anthropomorphic designs in purplish-black mineral pigments typical of these wares. The meaning of these designs is still the subject of scholarly deba...

From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine Qianlong Period (1736-1795), blue and white sauce tureen base of rectangular form with chamfered corners, depicting a river scene with fenced pagodas, people, bridges, and boats on water, with a meticulously intricate border design of cash diaper motifs, butterflies, key frets, and other details, all executed in an attractive blue of varying shades upon a body of dense 18th century export porcelain.

Qianlong Period export ware such a...

From our Indian Subcontinent Collection, a very fine contemporary Indian miniature painting, executed in a colorful but subdued palette of red, green, purple, and blue, with a lavish use of gilt highlights and detailing.

Ordinarily we prefer only the antique miniatures, but we thought this one was so well-done that we made an exception. Often painted with single-haired sable brushes or their equivalent, some of the details here are so fine they are difficult to appreciate without a jewele...

From our Southeast Asia Collection, a stunning and large martaban-type lacquer jar from the famed U Aung Myint workshop in Myinkaba Village, Pagan Burma (Myanmar), from which the British Museum has commissioned pieces for display in London. See Isaacs and Burton, Visions from the Golden Land, Burma and the Art of Lacquer page 222-223. We had the honor, privilege, and education of watching artisans in this famous lacquer workshop creating modern masterpieces in the yun style, an extremely labor i...

From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, an elegant 19th century porcelain baluster jar with cover, decorated with figures in a fenced garden setting with scholar’s rocks, butterflies, and floral sprays.

Some collectors tend to be a bit haughty when it comes to 19th century blue and white wares, as it is generally recognized that these blue and white pieces tend to fall off in quality as we get late into this period. As afficionados of Transitional Period through Qianlong Period war...

From our Early Chinese Collection, a rare glazed buddhist offering vessel with Oxford TL test from Yunnan Province, Song Dynasty China (960-1279 AD). The reddish-tinged and heavily potted buff body is decorated with a carved lotus leaf pattern in high relief, signifying “purity,” with the entire vessel covered in a rich emerald-green glaze with a few areas of slight iridescence from burial.

This offering vessel is one of the best examples we have seen from a group of highly obscure a...

From our Chinese Polychrome Collection, a charming and unpretentious Famille Rose teacup and saucer, Qianlong Period (1736-1795), most likely late Qianlong 1760-1785, decorated in a delicate floral pattern in Famille Rose palette, with a Batavian Brown (iron oxide) dressing on the reverse.

Size and Condition: The saucer is 5 inches in diameter, the teacup 2 7/8 inches across, 1 1/2 inches tall. Small inconsequential nick to footrim of teacup essentially perfect.

From our Japanese Collection, a very fine ivory carving, Meiji Period (1868-1912), probably Tokyo School but we cannot confirm the artist, depicting an elder carrying a rabbit in a basket along with a young boy who excitedly holds up a frog. The scene is expertly rendered as evidenced in the animation and excitement of the young boy's face, the expressiveness of the elder, the detail to the basketry, as well as the flow and fold to the robing, and the realism of the rabbit, the frog, and the eld...

From our Chinese Polychrome Collection, a very good Qianlong Period (1736-1795) Famille Rose porcelain dish, depicting a domestic scene of a husband, wife, and child sitting upon a bench, while their servant plays fetch with the family dog, all well-painted and better than average for typical export ware. The skill of the painter is evidenced here by amongst other things, the skillful use of shading in the blue, green, and pink enamels of the folds of the clothing to create depth and texture. Th...

From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a good Ming Dynasty kraakware dish, late Wanli Period circa 1600-1620, of well-known and documented form, executed in Border VIII style with a central bird some scholars opine is either a magpie or a duck, sitting upon a lotus pond outcropping and encircled by a ten-point buddhist star, further encircled by ten ogival panels of buddhist symbols in the outer border, all executed in a slightly greyish blue on a barbed-form dish with slightly upturned lip...