Koller View 3/18

FOR CONSIGNMENTS AND ESTIMATES ASIAN ART Regi Preiswerk preiswerk@kollerauctions.com 1 Sachen Kunga Nyingpo. Tibeto-Chinese, 15 th century. Fire-gilt copper alloy. H. 14 cm. Sold for CHF 125 000 2 Sang de Boeuf Vase (Meiping). China, Qianlong mark and period. Porcelain with a dark copper glaze. H 30 cm. Sold for CHF 100 000 3 Samantabhadra on an elephant. China, 19 th /20 th century. Blanc de chine porcelain. H 50 cm. Sold for CHF 54 000 Review of the Asian Art auction on 6 June 2018 Figural Bronzes Arouse Collectors’ Interest The 6 June auction of Asian Art was marked once again by a large influx of buyers from Eastern Asia, which has resulted in a 30% in- crease in newbidders during the past year. This trend was sparked by the outstanding private collection of Chinese imperial works of art sold in June 2017. The top lot in that auction was an imperial bronze bell which changed hands for more than 1.2 million Swiss francs. Koller’s presence at the Hong Kong International Antiques Fair and an extensive campaign on Chinese social media created a momentum that the Asian Art Department has adroitly capitalised upon in subsequent auctions. The demand for bronze and copper figures from Tibet, Nepal and Northern India has soared in recent years, as the number of high-quality works on themarket has dwindled while collectors in this field have increased. The top lot in the Asian Art auction in June was a rare 15 th century Tibeto-Chinese gilt bronze seated figure of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, one of the “five venerable masters” of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, which sold for CHF 126 000 (ill. 1). Prices realised for ceramics also reflected a sustained interest in this collecting category. A subtly spectacular lot was a dark-copper- glazed porcelain Meiping vase from the Qian- long period (ill. 2), for which Asian connois- seurs bid up to ten times its pre-sale estimate (CHF 102 000). A beautifully modelled blanc de chine porcelain figure of the deity Samant- abhadra seated on an elephant realised CHF 54 000 (ill. 3). A series of Chinese paintings from a Swiss private collection assembled in Shanghai before 1950 also sold very well, such as a large-format Song dynasty scroll painting on silk after Li You, which fetched CHF 82 000. 1 2 3 18