New York, 17 September 2012
Christie’s New York organized some major auctions during the Asian Art Week, which took place from 11 to 14 September 2012. These sales presented very rare Chinese art pieces from China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia. Five thematical sales were thus organized.
The “Japanese & Korean Art” sale took place on 11 September 2012 and attracted many art lovers from all the world. It presented ceramics and paintings of the greatest quality, worthy of a museum’s collections. The masterpiece of the sale was the Important and Monumental Blue and White Dragon Jar of the Joseon dynasty (XVIIIth century), sold for 3.218.500 $.
The “South Asian Modern & Contemporary” sale took place on 12 September: an oil painting by Vasuedo S. Gaintonde (1969) was the key piece of the sale, and it was indeed sold for 962.500 $. The total sales arrived to 7.060.625 $.
The “Indian and Southeast Asian Art” sale took place on 12 September as well. A very rare thangka (painting on canvas) of the Green Tara (Tibet) was sold at the highest price, 1.762.500 $, a world record for a thangka. The total sales arrived to 7.670.750 $.
The “In the Pursuit of Knowledge: Asian Art Reference Books” took place on 13 September. This sale gathered major books and periodicals about Chinese art. Christie’s thus offered many books from CT Loo bookshop, considered one of the most important for Chinese art international business in the early XXth century. A catalogue of ancient Chinese, Korean and Persian ceramics was presented, estimated between 4.000 and 6.000 $. It was published between 1925 and 1932, one of the major pieces of London’s Oriental Ceramic Society’s book collection. The sale’s total arrived to 1.290.825 $.
Eventually, the “Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Part II” took place on 13 and 14 September. 500 pieces of various categories and periods were presented : ceramics, jades, archaic bronzes, sculptures, furnitures and paintings. Among them a magnificent green jade jar, Bitong of Qianlong period (1736-1795) and a bronze ritual wine container , Zun of Shang dynasty ( XIIth – XIth century BC). The sale’s total arrived to 19.596.275 $.
Each of these auctions enlighted Asia’s cultural and artistic heritage; covering various historical periods, they reflected art’s evolution through time.