Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

28-CS Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

AUCTION -

28-CS

from famille verte and famille rose to armorials

and European subjects, figures, and some

unusual western shapes. Their collection

of two dozen rare snuffboxes was

probably the largest collection of China

trade snuffboxes ever put together.

“We will probably never see another

collection like it,” said MacGuire. It

was 100% sold.

The market for Chinese export

porcelain is international. American

collectors, English dealers, and some

Chinese agents were in the salesroom, but,

according to MacGuire, bidders from Latin

America, China, Singapore, Hong Kong,

and the Netherlands bid on the phones or online.

Many never come to New York to inspect the

porcelain and rely on high-resolution photographs

and condition reports. They can watch the sale

online and feel as though they are in the salesroom.

A large famille rose Yongzheng period (1723-

35) dish, 21" in diameter, pictured on the cover of

the catalog, with its vividly enameled scene of a

benevolent emperor observing a spirited deer hunt

from his terrace, the rim with European flowers,

sold for $118,750 (est. $20,000/30,000) to an

Asian buyer on the phone, underbid by London

dealer Michael Cohen of Cohen & Cohen in the

salesroom. Cohen & Cohen was showing at the

Winter Antiques Show.

The same buyer spent $81,250 (est.

$20,000/30,000) for a Yongzheng period famille

rose dish the same size, richly enameled with the

farewell scene from

The Dream of the Western

Chamber

, also from the Popowich collection.

Cohen was able to buy a few lots. A Yongzheng

period famille rose semi-eggshell porcelain plate,

8¾" in diameter, painted with two Chinese figures

and a yellowborder with famille rose flowers in four

reserves, was his for $18,750 (est. $7000/10,000),

and a pair of large painted enamel saucer dishes,

⅜

" in diameter, each painted with figures in a

landscape and animals in the reserves on its border,

cost him $37,500 (est. $12,000/18,000).

A different group of collectors competed for the

Popowiches’ snuffboxes. One phone bidder bought

20 of the 28 lots but not the most expensive one—it

sold online for $32,500 (est. $10,000/15,000). That

rare Biblical subject bombé porcelain snuffbox,

Qianlong period (1736-95), is enameled with

scenes from the life of Joseph. It is one of three or

four Joseph snuffboxes, and it made a record price

for any Chinese export snuffbox. Another Joseph

snuffbox sold at Christie’s, London, on April 26,

2016, for $21,720.

A rare piece of China trade porcelain made for

the American market, 1785-1800, was a massive

punch bowl painted with sepia cartouches of riders

on horseback and a vignette of a dog with a fox.

It matches a punch bowl at Winterthur and relates

closely to a set presented to Samuel Morris of

Philadelphia by the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club.

Morris was a founder and a president of the hunt

club. The punch bowl’s poor condition kept the

price down; nevertheless, it sold for $23,750 (est.

$10,000/15,000) to an anonymous buyer thought to

be an institution.

“The sale showed that good material finds its

level,” said MacGuire after the sale. Some

of the lots passed at the sale were sold by

private treaty after the sale.

For more information, call (212) 636-

2211 or check the website (www. christies.com).

This rare crouching boar, circa

1760, 8½" long, sold in the

salesroom to Washington, D.C.,

collector Bruce Perkins for

$6250 (est. $5000/8000).

The market for Chinese export

porcelain is international.

This Yongzheng period (1723-35) pair of ruby-back

saucer dishes, 9½" diameter, sold on the phone

for $42,500 (est. $15,000/25,000), underbid in the

salesroom by Michael Cohen.

This large Yongzheng period (1723-35) famille rose

dish, enameled with the farewell scene from

The

Dream of the Western Chamber

, 21" diameter, sold

for $81,250 (est. $20,000/30,000) to a major Asian

buyer, underbid online.

This very large tobacco leaf platter, circa 1775, the reverse

with blue and iron-red blossoming prunus branches, 17"

wide, sold for $10,000 (est. $10,000/15,000).

This pair of large Yongzheng/

early Qianlong period painted

enamel saucer dishes, 13

⅜

diameter, sold for $37,500

(est. $12,000/18,000) in the

salesroom to Michael Cohen

of Cohen & Cohen, London.

This massive set of three white

luohans, 19th/20th century,

31½" high, sold for $18,750

(est. $20,000/30,000) to a

collector in the salesroom who

said, “I got a great deal.”

This famille rose porcelain snuffbox, Qianlong period

(1736-95), finely painted

en grisaille

on the inside cover

with a 17th-century Dutch couple, the top and sides with

blossoms, the base with a puce flower spray, 3

" wide,

sold online for $16,250 (est. $6000/8000).

This rare Qianlong period (1736-95) Indian subject

snuffbox and cover, 3½" diameter, sold for $15,000

(est. $6000/9000). A Chinese porcelain pen box from

the collection of Dr. Anton C. R. Dreesmann has this

same rare decoration after a Mughal miniature inside;

it sold at Christie’s, London, on April 10, 2002. The

scene was also on a snuffbox sold at Christie’s,

London, on May 11, 2004. The catalog

notes that no other examples seem to be

recorded; perhaps these were

commissioned by a diplomat or

another European resident of India.