The OCS delighted to announce an exclusive cocktail preview of Bonhams Autumn Sale with Colin Sheaf, Chairman of Bonhams Asia.
Spanning 3,000 years of Chinese art, among the many highlights of this sale are three extraordinary archaic bronze ritual vessels from the late Shang/ early Western Zhou dynasty (c.1110”“1000 BCE), and a very rare imperial tianqi and qiangjin lacquer ”˜phoenix’ chest and cover of the Ming Jiajing period (1522”“1566) hailing from a European collection formed in the 1930s.
The sale also features exquisite porcelains from the Ming Zhengde period (1506”“1521), Qing Kangxi (1662”“1722) to QIanlong (1736”“1795) reigns, a particular highlight of which is a doucai enamelled stem bowl of the ”˜Eight Buddhist Emblems’ of the Yongzheng (1723”“1735) era.
Chinese devotional figures and paraphernalia also feature prominently in this sale. Of particular note are a large gilt-bronze figure of the future Buddha Maitreya, dating to the Kangxi period, that was formerly in the Speelman collection, and a gilt bronze and cloisonné enamel ”˜elephant’ incense burner of the QIanlong period. Of the same period is an exquisite white jade incense burner and cover, and rare yellow jade tapir, the latter from the collection of the collection of Sir William Burrell.
Colin Sheaf has been Head of Asian Art at Bonhams since 2001. A world authority on Asian ceramics and Chinese Art he directs Asian Art specialist teams on four continents, holding sales in London, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Among his many career highlights is the sale in 1986 of the ‘Nanking Cargo’, salvaged from the ‘Geldermalsen’, a homeward-bound Dutch East India merchant ship sunk in 1752. Since 2005, as Chairman of Bonham’s Asia, he opened the Hong Kong office in January 2007.