Cha-Qing! Chinese antique shatters Sotheby’s auction record
Sotheby’s recently held its Important Chinese Art auction: a marquee event that assembled rare porcelain alongside artworks from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Sales totalled over HK$333 million, and amidst these impressive results there were some truly awe-inspiring highlights.
Case in point: a rare brush washer dating from the Northern Song dynasty and a “ram’s head” teapot crafted from white jade featuring a cloisonné enamel handle. The sale of the latter exceeded experts’ wildest expectations, netting an impressive HK$75.5 million – a world record for the most expensive jade carving to be acquired at auction. Sourced from a private collection, this ceramic is a fine example of classical jade art during the Qianlong Emperor’s reign.
Made from a singular block of white jade, the teapot’s body is shaped into 12 evenly-spaced petal lobes. The titular “ram’s head” carving forms part of the spout and is finely detailed, with each of the creature’s features individually articulated. “It is a fine example of Qianlong period imperial jades,” says Xu Lin, a Sotheby’s cataloguer. That this piece was once owned by debonair American socialite Millicent Rogers – reportedly a confidant of Madame Chiang Kai-shek – is merely the icing on the cake.
Images: Sotheby’s
