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...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine and rare pair of Kangxi Mark and Period (1662 - 1722) aster dishes, ex- Christie's (see last photos for actual Christie's catalog listing), well-executed in a deep Mohammedan blue, with three aster blooms painted amidst a reserve of scrolling tendrils on shallow petal-lobed bodies...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine and well-painted Kangxi Period (1662-1722) porcelain dish with apocryphal Chenghua Period mark, depicting two elegant ladies looking out over a terrace with banana leaf plants and trees. Cross-hatched motifs decorate the border along with four vignettes of peaches signifying longevity...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine and unusual Kangxi Period (1662-1722) porcelain dish of European form, depicting two gentlemen discussing business alongside a boat dock while an attendant stands nearby with tea. This particular dish is extremely well-painted with a proficiency that rivals even some of our better mark and period pieces, and is executed in a very rich palette of four different shades of cobalt blue...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine Kangxi (1662-1722) Mark and Period porcelain dish depicting an elegant lady being attended to by her servant. Cross-hatched motifs decorate the border, along with four vignettes of peaches signifying longevity...
From our Early Chinese Collection, a very fine Ming bronze of Guanyin, 16th-17th century, crisply cast with a wonderfully serene countenance, a tiered and pierced diadem (crown), urna on the forehead signifying divine sight, body jewelry, and seated with right hand in verada mudra upon a double lotus base. This piece has developed a nice deep brown / dark gray patina with several areas of greenish verdigris suggesting high copper content to the bronze...
From our Chinese Monochrome Collection, a very fine pair of blanc de chine (dehua) fu dogs modeled as taper stick holders, either late Ming / early Shunzhi (1620-1650), or possibly early Kangxi Period (circa 1662-1690), of well-known and documented form, with each fu dog perched atop a rectangular base with a brocaded ball under its paw and a ribbon held in its mouth...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, an absolutely superb Kangxi Mark and Period Charger, 1662-1722, depicting an elegant lady in a garden pavilion tending to a lit censer while her servant stands adjacent with a ruyi-shaped fan. An egret flies overhead and two rabbits sit in the foreground beneath a banana leaf plant. On the outer rim, there are four cartouches of other elegant ladies interspersed with four cartouches of flowering plants, all separated by key fret reserves...
From our Chinese Monochrome Collection, a large carved ivory elephant bridge, late 19th century, depicting a procession of eight individual elephants of graduating size, nicely carved from a single tusk...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine Kangxi Period (1662-1722) porcelain plate with flower basket motif, the border executed with cash diaper design interspersed with four vignettes of floral sprigs. This piece is export ware but still arguably "Chinese taste" given the understated elegance and restraint from over-decoration...
From our Early Chinese Collection, an exceptional Northern Qi Dynasty Tomb Guardian (550 - 577 AD), boldly modeled in full military armor with chest and back plates, fringed mail tunics over knee guards, and battle helmet with leather side flaps. His left hand rests upon a leonine shield, the right hand would have clenched a wooden spear which has decomposed long ago...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a very fine Yongzheng (1723 -1735) Mark and Period Dragon Dish of shallow saucer form, depicting an animated dragon clutching a flaming pearl in its right claw while its winding body wraps around the dish and extends onto the reverse, all set against a backdrop of cloud motifs. The entire composition is extremely well-executed in a rich deep blue. The Yongzheng six character mark is contained within double circles and is of the period...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, an unusually fine Qianlong Period (1736-1795) tureen base or shallow basin, depicting a river scene with a large fenced pagoda, a stone bridge, and several people on boats and pontoons, together with a meticulously intricate border of ruyi heads, cash diaper motifs, key frets, butterflies, and other marvelous details.
This piece is top quality in terms of "Nanking Ware" (not to be confused with Nanking Cargo Shipwreck pieces); it really gets no ...
From our Chinese Blue and White Collection, a truly once in a lifetime find, this massive and breathtaking piece is an exceptionally rare Kangxi Period (1662- 1722) blue and white porcelain fishbowl, ex-Sotheby’s, potted in classic deep U-form with rolled rim. It is very well-painted in a rich underglaze blue of the highest quality, the design depicting Chinese style flower baskets within four individual lotus shaped cartouches, each separated by reserves of stylized aster sprays...