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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 27-CS
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AUCTION -
27-CS
Christie’s, New York City
Chinese Export Porcelain at Christie’s
by Lita Solis-Cohen
Photos courtesy Christie’s
A
collection of 17th-century “Hatcher
cargo” porcelain was the first part of
Christie’s Chinese export porcelain
sale on January 18 in New York City. Back
in 1984, Christie’s held a landmark sale in
Amsterdam that offered Chinese porcelain
from a 1640s shipwreck that had been
salvaged by the then-unknown Captain
Michael Hatcher. At that sale, three friends,
Antwerp tastemaker and designer Axel
Vervoordt, China trade dealer/scholar David
Howard (d. 2005), and Betty Gertz of Dallas,
Texas, sat together and bid. Gertz’s eclectic
and erudite personal collection filled her
large Georgian-style Dallas house (featured
in
Southern Accents
in March-April 2002)
and, more recently, her new Dallas house
tucked inside a walled garden (and featured
in
Architectural Digest
in December 2015).
Gertz and Vervoordt collaborated on both
houses. Vervoordt designed special white
brackets for the Hatcher blue and white
porcelain.
The first half of Gertz’s Hatcher cargo
collection came to auction in January
2015 with some success. The second half
was offered in January 2017 with mixed
results. These porcelain wares were made
at Jingdezhen in the period before the Qing
asserted control over the kilns. The wares
were rescued from the sea in the early 1980s
and have never been super expensive. The
blue is pleasantly muted from the sea salt,
but these wares come with such a good
story and the blessings of tastemaker
Vervoordt, so they sold fairly well.
Two large Hatcher cargo baluster
jars and covers, the larger 14½"
high, sold for $7500 (includes
buyer’s premium), within
the $6000/9000 estimate. Six
Hatcher cargo blue and white
dishes, the largest 11½" in
diameter, sold to a phone bidder
for $10,000 (est. $7000/9000),
and six large Hatcher cargo blue
and white dishes, 14" diameter,
all with similar decoration,
sold together with six large wall
brackets for an amazing $21,250 (est.
$6000/10,000). A very large blue
and white dish, 19¼" in diameter,
estimated at $5000/8000, and
several lots of kendi, pouring
vessels with short spouts, failed to sell.
Rockefeller pattern plates, platters, and
dishes sold within estimates. Both David
and Nelson Rockefeller had large services
in a pattern painted in the Mandarin palette
with groups of figures at leisure and with the
rims and wells with reserves painted with
birds and landscapes in sepia. Since Nelson
Rockefeller’s death in 1979, when much
of his porcelain sold at auction, the pattern
has been called the Rockefeller pattern.
Becky MacGuire, the senior specialist who
masterminds the annual China trade sales at
Christie’s, said several European families
ordered these services in about 1805. Agroup
of eight Rockefeller plates sold for $10,000
(est. $10,000/12,000), and a large platter, 19"
long, brought $8750 (est. $8000/12,000).
Christie’s will offer an entire dinner service
in the Rockefeller pattern, 185 pieces, at its
“Exceptional Sale” in April. The service will
have a $300,000/500,000 estimate.
MacGuire said she was pleased that the
collection of the late Philadelphia collectors
Lorraine and David Popowich exceeded
its high estimate and was 93% sold, which
helped the sale total to $1,776,625.
Condition is very important to Chinese
export porcelain collectors, and the
Popowiches acquired top examples in
pristine condition in all the major categories,
This 8
7
/
8
" diameter armorial plate, circa 1735,
with the arms of Lee of Coton quartering Astley,
the border with intricate scenes of the Thames and
Pearl Rivers, sold for $16,500 (est. $3000/5000) in
the salesroom to a Washington collector.
This Yongzheng period (1723-35) famille rose
dish, vividly enameled with a benevolent emperor
observing a spirited deer hunt from his terrace, the
rim embellished with vibrant European flowers, 21"
diameter, sold for $118,750 (est. $20,000/30,000) to
an Asian buyer on the phone, underbid by Michael
Cohen of Cohen & Cohen, London, who was
showing at the Winter Antiques Show. The dish was
pictured on the cover of the catalog.
Six large Hatcher cargo blue and white dishes, 14" diameter,
transitional, mid-17th century, with similar decoration,
together with six large wall brackets, sold for $21,250 (est.
$6000/10,000). Six Hatcher cargo blue and white dishes (not
shown), the largest 11½" diameter, sold to a phone bidder
for $10,000 (est. $7000/9000).
Two large mid-17th-century octagonal baluster
jars and covers, transitional, with various flower
and fruit sprays, the larger 14½" high, from the
Hatcher cargo, sold for $7500 (est. $6000/9000).
This Yongzheng period (1723-35) ruby-back
saucer dish, 8
1
/
8
" diameter, sold to a phone
bidder for $75,000 (est. $8000/12,000).
This very large Rockefeller pattern platter, circa
1800, 19" long, sold for $8750 (est. $8000/12,000).
This large early Qianlong period famille rose punch bowl, with
a continuous palace garden scene on the exterior and a deep
floral border above a large central floral cluster inside, 15½"
diameter, sold for $20,000 (est. $20,000/30,000).