The correct date for the Gianguan Auctions summer sale that includes Zisha teapots, Chinese seals and scholar items is Saturday, June 10. The gallery preview is currently open at Gianguan Auctions, 39 W. 56th Street, NYC.

Rarely do deep collections of small and favored items like Zisha teapots, Chinese seals and scholars items come to the podium as they will on June 10 at Gianguan Auctions. The rarities are in keeping with the importance placed on design and craftsmanship in all aspects of life. 

Highlights of the Zisha (purple clay) teapots include Lot 159, Gu Jingzhou’s high profile, bamboo reed pot with a mouse finial and a caterpillar on the spout by. It has three artists marks and is valued at upwards of $5,000.

Lot 166, with five artist marks, also from Gu Jingzhou, is round, compact and decorated with ruyi. It has a snub snout and generous curved handle. Bidding starts at $800. 

Lot 167, by Yang Youlan, a high profile pot, is incised with a poem and pine and crane motif. It has two artist’s marks, and will fetch about $500.  

Several Qing Dynasty tea pots prove their durability with style:

Lot 274, for instance, has a round high profile and is decorated with lotus leaves and quatrefoil birds amid foliage.

Lot 275, a burnished reddish-brown pot of medium profile by Yongfang has a domed lid and a Buddhist lion finial while its  body is decorated with lions at play and the shou symbol. It icarries the Kangxi imperial dragon mark.

The medium profile of Lot 276 is covered with an unusual relief carved cloth wrapper. It bears the artist mark of Li Huifang.

Lot 169 is a spirited pig shaped pot with a coin spout, bearing the Qianlong six charter mark.

The teapots range in value from $300 to $5,000.

The collection of Chinese seals, a favorite of businessmen and scholars, ranges from spare stone columns of shoushan and icy furong to carved free-form stones. For example, Lot 93, by Qing artist Wu-Kai, has a dragon-tortoise knop, and is dated 1831.

Lots 90 and 96 are substantial tianghuang square pedestals with a qilin atop.

The seals run $600 to $2,500. 

An important and rare  massive songhua stone square double ink-well rounds out the scholars objects.  Its double grinding surface and recessed water pools is reminiscent of Double-Happiness. It is inscribed with a four-character seal in Manchurian and Han Characters Seal Script: Huang Di Zhi Bao, Imperial Treasure. It is Lot 278, expected to command upwards of $2,000.  

For details on the Zisha teapots and Chinese seals, please visit the Gianguan Auction catalog www.gianguanauctions.com.  To view the Zisha teapots, stone seals, and scholar items in person, visit Gianguan Auctions at 39 W. 56 Street, 3rd floor, NYC. The preview is open now, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday, June 9. The auction will be conducted on site and on liveauctioneers.com and invaluable.com. It begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 10.