Highlights in lacquer and jade and a collection under the patronage of the Dalai Lama

The upcoming Asian Art auction comprises a diverse offer of lacquer objects. Whether gleaming as a frame for Thai sculptures, richly carved in bold red as a lidded box, or as a delicately applied golden or jet-black layer on Japanese craftwork – lacquer in all forms provides the highlights of the upcoming auction at Kunsthaus Lempertz on 21st June.

The offer spans the fields of Indian and Southeast Asian art as well as Tibet, China and Japan. Two private collections form the core of the 65 lots in the chapter of India and Southeast Asian: A Dutch private collection acquired at auctions and on the European market between 1975 and 1995, and one assembled in North Rhine-Westphalia across fifty years. The highlight of the collection is an extremely fine sculpture of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (lot 36, € 100/120,000). The imposing figure was acquired from Spink & Son Ltd in London in 1984 and is from a Belgian private collection.

Items of cultural significance are exhibited in the field of Tibetan and Nepalese art. Under the patronage of the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), the Tibethaus Cultural Foundation Frankfurt am Main has consigned a number of Buddhist art objects from the estate of a Hamburg couple. These will be offered for sale in Lempertz’ auction in Cologne. Collected over decades, Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan art forms the core of the offering (lots 66 - 99 and 128 – 133), which was bequeathed to the Dalai Lama (represented by his office), and subsequently donated to the Tibethaus Cultural Foundation Frankfurt am Main. The proceeds of the auction will support the SEE Learning Project (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning, a project initiated by the Dalai Lama under the direction of Professor Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA), as well as further Tibetan cultural and integration projects of the Tibethaus Cultural Foundation.

Particular focus is laid on the sculptures and utilitarian objects in this offering, whilst a thangka featuring a rare representation of the dancing skeletons, Citipati, (lot 97, € 800/1000) is worth mentioning.

In the chapter of art from China, a figure of Buddha Dipankara (lot 132, € 100/150,000) is enthroned on a richly decorated lotus socle. The gold lacquered Buddha is from an Austrian private collection and impresses with its dignified radiance. Buddha Dipankara belongs to the group of three Buddhas which stand for the past, present and future, known as the Buddha of the Three Generations, Buddha of the Three Worlds, or of the Three Ages. They are depicted seated in meditation and are identified by their hand positions. Dipankara represents the past and is usually placed to the right of the central Buddha, Shakyamuni. Stylistically, this figure can be classified to the group of sculptures made of golden-brown lacquered wood which were created in the time of the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors for the Buddhist temples in Rehol near Chengde in the province of Hebei.

Completely without lacquer, but just as lustrous, is a spinach green jade plaque, consigned by a South German vendor (lot 147, € 25/35,000). The circular panel is intricately and finely carved showing a scholar and his assistant crossing a bridge amidst a variety of trees. The well-concealed constellation of stars sets the scene in a cloudy night by full moon. Round or square panels of green or white jade were often carved as a pair and were made in the era of the Emperor Qianlong, in particular between 1770 and 1820. Their diameter ranges from 20 to 25 cm with a thickness of mostly one centimeter. They were displayed in elaborately carved stands as a pair on the tables of the imperial halls of the Forbidden City or the Old Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan.

At a time of a waning pandemic, the reference to the risk of infection for those affected by the ‘Maladie de la porcelaine’ seems tastelessly premature. However, the offer of Chinese porcelain from a Rhenish private collection constitutes significant potential danger. Acquired in the 1980s and 90s, it comprises mostly fine-walled pieces with bold polychrome painting. An imperial dragon dish (lot 185, € 15/20,000) forms the core of the exceptionally fine collection alongside a pair of yellow-ground famille rose bowls (lot 190, € 8/12,000).

After the successful auction of the first part of Chinese paintings from the important Voretzsch Collection, Lempertz now brings the second part to auction. The numerous numerical annotations on the reverse of the eight paintings from the collection of the famous diplomat reveal the rich exhibition history of the hanging scrolls (lots 232 – 239).

The traditionally large section of Japanese art is also marked by lacquer. An imposing chest with an impressive decoration of phoenix (lot 404, € 60/80,000) is worth noting here. The provenance of the piece can be traced back to 1928 when it was offered at a Berlin auction house and listed in the illustrated catalogue of the house of Jacob Hecht.

Much more manageable, but greater in number, is the offer of 24 pieces of Japanese lacquer from a South German collection. Acquired mainly in the auction trade from renowned houses, it includes a collection of Japanese stacking boxes known as înro.

The netsuke conclude the auction. The highlight of the 50-piece offer is a karako with a fan (lot 474, € 3/4,000). Its robe, decorated with fine patterns in gold lacquer, and the inlays of mother of pearl, give the small object a refined radiance. In the Mann and Meredith Collection until 1995, it shone on various catalogue covers as well as in the galleries of Barry Davies and Hildegard Flachsmann before now smiling from the page of a Lempertz catalogue, consigned from a private collection in North Rhine-Westphalia.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 0221/92 57 29–30.

Contact

Jan Bykowski
Press and public relations
info@lempertz.com