For the next four days, Gianguan Auctions' gallery at 39 W. 59th Street is welcoming collectors to view the properties in their upcoming December 9 sale.  On view are icons of Buddhist art, Modern Chinese Paintings, Zisha teapots, Chinese seals and marquee level ceramics and carved jades.

A Song Dynasty fresco of Water-Moon Guanyin, also known as Avalokiteshvara of the Southern Seas, leads a curated collection of Buddhist art. The ancient fresco is well preserved, with polychrome details intact.  

Following it is a secular piece, also a fresco of the Song Dynasty, that replicates the “Court Ladies Tea Banquet," Zhang Xuan’s famous painting. Both frescos are framed and are expected to bring more than $30,000 each.

Several Warring States (5th c. BC) bronze spears attest to the upheavals in power that led to the founding of the Qin Dynasty. Highlights include:

• a handsome curved ritual blade with Leiwen inscriptions and slits for attachment
• a tapered blade with median ridges decorated with geometrics and taotie masks
• a rare bronze sword with beveled edges that taper to a point, with decorations at the pommel. 

The carved jades kick off with a Qin Dynasty stem cup of transluscent white jade. The U-shaped body is finely carved with C-shaped scrolls between two bands of archaic symbols. It is similar to a cup displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2017 exhibition “Age of Empires, Chinese Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties.” 

The Modernist painters, many of whom lived and looked outside of China for inspiration during the 20th century, are well represented. The artists include Zhang Daqian, Yu Feian, Qi Baishi, and Li Keran, among others.

Zisha teapots in all profiles from noted potters make a strong showing. For instance, there are works by

• Ming master Hui Meng Chen, whose compact teapot with applied mountainous landscape and inscription is a heritage delight

• Master of Chinese Art Wang Yinxian, represented by several works with one of the more unusual being an angled pot that sits on a recessed base

• Gu Jingzhou, whose unusual black basket weave pot with moulded bamboo handle and spout is a collector's quiet sensation. 

Chinese seals, a favorite among Gianguan Auctions collectors, come in all forms and sizes. Rare examples include a large Tianhuang stone seal with a fantastical dragon-tortoise knop...a pair of crow-skin Shoushan seals with bas relief landscape motifs...a minimalistic columnar seal of red Ji Xue (chicken blood stone) with white inclusions. 

A lovely field of ceramics is led by a 13th c. cobalt blue and white narcissus bulb vase with a highly detailed interior panorama of a pavilion in landscape.  Its counterpoint is a later,18-inch  tall powder blue vase inscribed with angular cranes and plum blossoms inscribed wit the Kangxi six-character mark in a double circle.

For high-resolution photographs and descriptions of the properties in Gianguan Auctions December 9 sale, please download the catalog at www.gianguanauctions.com. Better yet, inspect the objects themselves in the presence of specialists at Gianguan Auctions gallery, 39 West 56th Street. All are on view until 7:00 p.m. Friday, December 8. For more, email info@gianguanauctions.com or call 212 867-7288.