Scheduled during the week of Asian sales in New York, Doyle’s Asian Works of Art auction on Monday, September 11 at 10am presents the arts of China, Japan and Southeast Asia from the Neolithic Period through the 20th century. Offerings include porcelain, pottery, jade, scholar’s objects, bronzes, screens, furniture and paintings.

Highlighting the sale is property from a Private Minneapolis Collection. Comprising 23 lots, the Collection is particularly rich in Chinese jades and Khmer and Sino-Tibetan bronzes. The selection of jades features an 18th century celadon and russet jade peach-form box carved with unfurling leaves, blossoms and bats, length 5 3/4 inches. The box is notable for its construction utilizing naturalistically carved branches to skillfully interlock both halves. The peach (shoutao) is the fruit of immortality, and the bat (fu) is a pun for blessings. Together they represent a wish to possess both blessings and immortality (est. $20,000-30,000).

Other jades include a 19th century white jade covered censer carved with lotus blossoms and a Buddha flanked by two Luohan, diameter 4 1/2 inches (est. $15,000-25,000) and a graceful celadon jade ewer carved lotus petals and a chilong handle, height 9 1/8 inches (est. $15,000-25,000). Certain to attract attention are a pair of beautifully carved Mughal-style celadon jade covered vases, height 10 7/8 inches (est. $30,000-50,000).

Bronzes in the Collection feature an 18th century Sino-Tibetan gilt-bronze figure of Shadakshari Lokeshvara seated in dhyanasana on a lotus base, height 8 inches. Shadakshari Lokeshvara is the four-armed manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and is often regarded as the patron deity of Tibet. In this example, the deity’s principal hands are held before the heart in the anjalimudra of respectful salutation, with the two outer hands holding the bhodi bead from a rosary representing enlightenment, and the lotus flower of purity. The bronze has been exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, under long term loan (est. $15,000-25,000).

Khmer bronzes offer an 11th/12th century Triad figural group in the Bayon style depicting a Buddha seated in dhyanamudra before the seven-headed canopy of the serpent king,
Muchalinda, flanked by standing figures of Avalokitesvara and Prajnaparamita, height 11 3/4
inches (est. $12,000-18,000).

Among the Chinese paintings in the sale are a 1959 painting titled New Moon over Hong Kong by Chen Qikuan (1921-2007) (est. $30,000-50,000) and two works by Qi Baishi (1864-1957). For Qi Baishi, the morning glory was a favorite subject and source of artistic inspiration. In one painting, he depicts a cluster of morning glories in full bloom with their buds, tendrils and leaves entwined along a stretch of bamboo fence. The morning glories are portrayed in an especially unconstrained and spontaneous manner, reflective of his later work (est. $20,000-30,000).

The sale offers approximately fifty Chinese snuff bottles from two private collections. Highlights include a crystal snuff bottle, 1850-1900, inside painted by Wang Xisan, 1968, with a scene of small huts nestled along a riverbank, height 2 3/4 inches (est. $5,000-7,000). Another inside painted glass snuff bottle, 19th century, depicts a scholar and his assistant, Gui Xianguu, standing near a lake in a landscape and the reverse with calligraphy, height 2 1/2 inches (est. $5,000-7,000).

Other sale highlights include a Chinese aloeswood ‘Chenxiangmu’ brushpot from the Qing
Dynasty carved with a continuous scene of scholars in various pursuits surrounded by craggy rockwork, plantain and potted vessels, height 6 3/8 inches (est. $30,000-50,000).

Doyle is located at 175 East 87th Street in New York. The catalogue is available online at Doyle.com