ByIANSlife Features

September 4, 2020 (IANSlife) Christie’s announces Asian Art Week, a series of auctions, viewings, and events, from September 4-29. This season presents twelve auctions featuring over 1,000 objects from 5,000 years of art spanning all epochs and categories of Asian art comprising Chinese archaic bronzes through Japanese and Korean art to contemporary Indian painting.

Highlights include a 3rd to 4th century gray schist figure of a bodhisattva from the ancient region of Gandhara ($1,500,000- 2,500,000), the groundbreaking The Last Chapter by Rameshwar Broota ($250,000-350,000), an early to mid-6th century B.C. ding bronze ritual tripod food vessel and cover ($350,000-450,000); and Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong porcelain from the prestigious collection of James and Marilynn Alsdorf. From rare huanghuali furniture to modern paintings by Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, and Jehangir Sabavala, treasures from every category of Asian art wait to be discovered.

All works will be presented in an exhibition by appointment from September 16 at Christie’s New York. Additional information on the individual auctions is included in the following pages.

 

ASIAN ART WEEK | LIVE AUCTION OVERVIEW:

Japanese and Korean Art
22 September 2020 | 10am

 

 

Christie’s sale of Japanese Art and Korean Art spans 250 lots of classical to modern and contemporary works. Highlighting the Japanese section is an important pair of six-panel screens by Kano Tsunenobu (1636-1713), Chrysanthemums Blooming in a Garden ($150,000-250,000) along with a superb offering of prints by Utagaw a Hiroshige (1797-1858), Kitagaw a Utamaro (1753- 1806), and Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), including “Red Fuji” ($100,000-
200,000) and “The Great Wave” ($150,000-250,000). Other Japanese highlights include important lacquers, screens, and metalw orks as w ell as a selection of modern and contemporary painting. Featured Korean works include a blue and
white porcelain jar with three worthies playing weiqi, Joseon dynasty ($250,000- 500,000); and an impressive eight-panel screen attributed to Kim Hongdo (1745- 1806), titled 'Hunting Scene' ($100,000-200,000).

 

A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection

23 September 2020 | 10am

 

A Lasting Engagement: The Jane and Kito de Boer Collection offers more than 150 works of Indian art from the prestigious collection of Jane and Kito de Boer. Highlights include a suite of rare works by Ganesh Pyne dating from the 1950s to the 1990s, and a range of works by Rameshwar Broota including the seminal 1982 painting, The Last Chapter ($250,000-350,000). Additional highlights include early paintings by Akbar Padamsee and Maqbool Fida Husain, alongside a strong selection of works from the Bengal School and artists like Francis New ton Souza, A. Ramachandran, Bikash Bhattacharjee and K. Laxma Goud. Contemporary works in the auction include an early painting by Atul Dodiya and a sculptural work by Anish Kapoor. The live auction is accompanied by an online sale, offering additional works from the collection betw een 4-25 September

 

South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art
23 September 2020 | 11:30am

 

The sale of South Asian M odern + Contemporary Art is led by an important painting by Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Untitled from 1983 ($2,000,000-3,000,000), that  will go under the gavel for the first time and typifies his contemplative, non-objective aesthetic. Another highlight of the catalogue, Jehangir Sabavala’s widely published pastoral painting, The Peasants ($450,000-600,000), is also appearing at auction for the first time. Other highlights include exceptional examples w orks by of modern masters such as Tyeb Mehta’s dynamic Untitled from 1974; The Pull, a rare early work by Maqbool Fida Husain; and Candamerie, a sublime landscape from 1969 by Sayed Haider Raza. A diverse contemporary section includes works by the region’s most renow ned practitioners like Nalini Malani, Shilpa Gupta and Imran Qureshi to name a few. The sale also includes the complete 1991 portfolio, House with Four Walls, by Zarina.

 

Devotion in Stone: Gandharan M asterpieces from a Private Japanese Collection 23 September 2020 | 2pm

 

 

One of the most important collections of Gandharan art in private hands, Devotion in Stone: Gandharan M asterpieces from a Private Japanese Collection will offer 28 iconic and w ell-published examples of Buddhist figures, friezes and narrative reliefs w ith Japanese provenance. Highlights include a rare and magnificent gray schist triad of Buddha Shakyamuni w ith bodhisattvas ($600,000- 800,000), one of a very few dated Gandharan works of art known; published in more than thirty publications, the triad is perhaps the most important Gandharan sculpture to come to market. The sale also features a superbly-carved large and important gray schist figure of a bodhisattva ($1,500,000-2,500,000), a monumental gray schist bust of a bodhisattva ($400,000-600,000), and a very finely-carved gray schist figure of Buddha Shakyamuni ($300,000-500,000).

 

Sacred and Imperial: The James and M arilynn Alsdorf Collection: Part I
24 September 2020 | 8:30am

 

Christie’s New York is pleased to present Sacred and Imperial: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection. Part I offers a curated cross-section of 24 of the best examples across the Alsdorfs’ most collected categories, spanning South Indian
bronzes, Qing dynasty porcelain, Chinese painting, and Chinese and Japanese works of art. Featured lots include a rare and magnificent bronze figure of Shiva Tripuravijaya, South India, Tamil Nadu, Chola period, circa 1050 ($1,000,000- 1,500,000); a very rare and important marble head of buddha, China, Sui dynasty, AD 550-618 ($500,000-700,000); a superb peachbloom-glazed w ater pot, taibai zun, China, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period, 1662- 1722 ($150,000-250,000); and an album of landscapes and calligraphy attributed to Zhang Ruitu. Brow se Part I here.

 

Sacred and Imperial: The James and M arilynn Alsdorf Collection: Part II
24 September 2020 | 9:30am

 

 

Part II of the Alsdorf collection spans Chinese ceramics and w orks of art, Chinese paintings, Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian art, Japanese w orks of art, and European and American Decorative arts and Design. Highlights include Qing dynasty mark-and-period porcelain, jade carvings, Himalayan bronzes, Indian stone sculpture, a hanging scroll depicting a horse by Xu Beihong, an important suite of Sicilian reverse-painted glass furniture from the 18th century and 20th century furnishings by American designer Samuel Marx.

 

Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art 24 September 2020 | 4pm

 

 

Christie’s sale of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art will present 37 carefully chosen lots featuring w orks from across India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia, including tw o rare Central Indian red sandstone figures from
the collection of Herbert and Florence Irving, a buff sandstone figure of a Yakshi ($200,000-300,000) and a rare buff sandstone figure of a Salabhanjika ($120,000- 180,000), both w ith early documented provenance. Other highlights include an important thirteenth-century Nepalese gilt-copper figure of Padmapani Lokeshvara ($2,000,000-3,000,000); an extensively-published rare gilt-copper figure of Avalokiteshvara from the Khasa Malla kingdom of Nepal ($300,000-500,000); and a rare Chinese painting of Chakrasamvara dated to the reign of the Chenghua Emperor ($300,000-500,000).

 

Crafted Landscapes: The Ankarcrona Collection of Japanese Lacquer and Asian Works of Art 10 September - 1 October 2020 | Online

Christie's is delighted to present, Crafted Landscapes: The Ankarcrona Collection of Japanese Lacquer and Asian Works of Art, an online auction from 10 September to 1 October. Sten Ankarcrona (1861–1936) began collecting Asian works of art upon his first visit to Japan in the late 1880s—a golden age of travel and European collecting. The young aristocratic Sw edish naval officer became fascinated by the breadth of artistic production in the region and continued to add to his collection back in Europe. In 1923, by then an admiral, he was appointed by the King of Sw eden to travel back to Japan on a special mission, w here he spent two months making many more purchases. This love of Asian art w as later passed
down to his children and grandchildren, who have enriched the ensemble into the early 21st century. Comprising fine Japanese inro, beautiful lacquer incense boxes (kogo), delicately decorated  riting boxes (suzuribako), Chinese porcelain and other exceptional objects, the collection symbolizes the Ankarcrona family passion and tradition of collecting.

 

 

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