The OCS is delighted to offer members an exclusive preview of the Bonham’s Autumn sales led by Colin Sheaf, Bonham’s Asia Chairman and Head of Asian Art.
Among the many highlights of this sale are a rare Qianlong period (1736-1795) guan-type ‘fish basket’, formerly in the collection of J.M. Hu (1911-1995), and an exceptional private collection of Chinese art assembled between the 1950s and the 1970s in the UK under the guidance of William Wilberforce Winkworth (1897-1991), the son of Stephen D. Winkworth (d.1938), one of the founding members of the Oriental Ceramics Society in London, William Winkworth worked at the British Museum from 1922 to 1926. This collection includes an exceptionally rare Yongzheng period (1723-1735) flambé-glazed moonflask with Daoist-inspired motifs, and a large Qianlong period (1736-1795) moonflask. One of few remaining collections in Europe of such quality, it also includes masterpieces of soapstone and rhinoceros horn carvings, dated to the 17th and 18th centuries.
Other highlights include a pair of massive mid-Qing dynasty zitan rectangular panels, which reputedly belonged to the French author Marcel Proust (1871-1922). The pair of panels are decorated with elegantly scrolling acanthus leaves and seashells, an adaptation of European Rococo-style motifs and aesthetics that was popular in the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns. This collection also includes a rare pair of Qianlong period champlevé enamel openwork garden seats, and a rare selection of Imperial cloisonné enamel, including a large pair of 18th century gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel cranes.
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. One of his many career highlights remains the unequaled sale he organised in 1986, the ‘Nanking Cargo’. Salvaged from the ‘Geldermalsen’, a homeward-bound Dutch East India merchant ship sunk in 1752, the unique cargo of some 150,000 pieces of ‘new’ Chinese Export porcelain and gold was 100% sold for a world record total in excess of £10 million. Since 2005, as Chairman of Bonham’s Asia he has led Bonham’s drive into the Asian art market, culminating in opening this new auction business in Hong Kong in January 2007.
For reservations please write to us at ocs@orientalcermaics.org.hk or register through the form below.
Please make your cheque payable to The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong Limited, GPO Box 6202, Central, Hong Kong.