Skinner Offers Asian Art from Private Collections at Auction on March 22, 2019

Boston, MA – March 4, 2019 – Skinner presents an Asian Works of Art auction featuring 500 lots of Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian art and antiques. Coinciding with Asia Week New York, the sale features five important private collections: Chinese monochrome ceramics, Gandharan and Sino-Tibetan Buddhist sculpture, Japanese Satsuma ware, and Chinese textiles. Collected over an extended period, each illustrates the highly selective tastes of the collector.

Lot 138, Yellow-glazed Dish, China, Ming dynasty; Estimate $5,000-$7,000

Monochrome Chinese Ceramics

An egg-yolk yellow dish, Jiajing mark and period (Lot 138, Estimate: $5,000-7,000), is a highlight of an extensive local collection of Chinese monochrome ceramics. The group with its breadth of color and form is sure to comprise something appealing to collectors of every period of Chinese ceramics.

Lot 253, Gilt-bronze Figure of the Six-arm Mahakala; Estimate $25,000-$35,000

Buddhist Art and Sino-Tibetan Bronzeste 

A collection of Gandharan heads and a stele dating from the 1st to 4th century AD represent examples of Buddhist art featured in the sale. The elegant and classic sculptures were collected in the 1960s by the current owner’s father, an architect with the New York firm of Edward Durell Stone who was commissioned to build the government buildings in Karachi. A serene bronze Manjushri exemplifies a group of Sino-Tibetan bronzes collected by the current owner’s father while employed by Standard Oil in the 1930s in China, and the examples are of exceptional quality and historical interest.

Lot 40, Blue and White Meiping Vase; Estimate $20,000-$30,000

Satsuma Pottery

Collected with an eye for artisan, exquisite detail and charming compositions, Satsuma pottery by Kinkozan, Hosai, Ryozan, Kozan, Meizan, and Gyokuzan, are on offer. The thirty-one lots in the collection are all in excellent condition and illustrate the range of subjects and techniques characteristic of Satsuma wares.

Textile Art

Primarily dating to the end of the Qing dynasty, the London textile collection of Nancy Murphy showcases purses, fan cases, and collars. Domestic items used by and for women, the accessories are embellished and embroidered in a variety of stitches with decorations rich in symbolism with blessings for the wearer.

Other Auction Highlights include Korean genre paintings by Unbo Kim Ki-Chang, Indian and Nepalese paintings, a rare Tibetan bone apron, with vest, armbands, and cap and many more examples of Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian art, objects, and furniture.