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The Loyal Mastiff

10/4/2021

 
Zhang Daqian loved being surrounded by a wide variety of pets. In 1970, for the first day of the year of the dog, he dedicated to one of his sons-in-law a self portrait with a saint bernard, ink and colors on white paper 176 x 96 cm.

The artist in profile takes on the role of an old scholar in a white robe who studies a hand scroll without worrying about his surroundings. According to his practice throughout his career, this self portrait shows his age without complacency. The loyal dog, upright at his side, waits for the master to pay attention to him.

The preparatory drawing for this composition did not feature a saint bernard but a Tibetan mastiff. In the same size as the New Year's painting, Zhang made at an undetermined date a more achieved work, on gold paper. The drawing is the same, with the loyal mastiff. The dog's fluffy black fur is the highlight of this image, with a great realism. In contrast, the background is painted with the Tang-inspired splash technique.

Painted for his personal use, this self portrait with the mastiff was given to his wife. It is a link between the present, the man in his seventies, and the past, an intelligent and loyal sheepdog named Black Tiger who had not survived the hot and humid climate of southern China 27 years earlier. Zhang, who liked big dogs, had brought back the saint bernard from Switzerland.

The self portrait with a mastiff on gold paper is estimated HK $ 48M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 18, lot 8003.

Modern China

The Colors of the Matador

9/4/2021

 
With his sequined coat (traje de luces), the matador is the symbol of the Spanish festival. The last homogeneous series executed by Picasso explores this theme in fifteen paintings made between September 27 and October 23, 1970.

The matador thus succeeds the mosquetero, with whom he has in common the sword, a symbol of virility and indirectly of the nostalgia of the aging artist. In addition the mosquetero had a pipe, the use of which is now forbidden to Pablo by his doctors.

The matador benefits from a bust composition, which is simpler, less crazy and ultimately much more optimistic. The mosquetero was the memory of the glorious past. The matador is the conscientious libertador of the new Spain, wounded by Franco's civil war.

The hard work does not weaken. Pablo dates four oils on canvas on September 27 alone. The first three are studies for the fourth.

This Buste de Matador IV, oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm, is based on the very dynamic contrast of two complementary colors, light blue and dark orange. This painting is estimated HK $ 100M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 18, lot 8005.

The final piece in this series is a portrait in an almost realistic style, without the dual perspective of the face. This 146 x 114 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 16.5M including premium by Sotheby's on February 28, 2018.

Picasso from 1961

Paradise under the Moon

9/4/2021

 
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is a favorite of the faithful in his role of relieving the humans from suffering and of showing the path. He can simultaneously take an unlimited number of appearances to perform the necessary actions for the happiness of the world.

The arrival of Buddhism in China generated important transformations of this bodhisattva who took the name Guanyin. After the Tang dynasty, Guanyin finally lost his mustache to become an androgynous figure.

Under the Song, Buddhism is not dominant. It is contested by the Confucians and competes with Taoism. At this time of strong political power, the Chinese are wary against this foreign religion imported from India.


The large wooden statues maintain very marked Hindu features in opposition to Chinese traditions, such as the abundance of carved jewelry, the robe revealing the shape of the body, and the high bun. The Liao and the Jin, competitors to the Song, maintained a similar iconography.

To fully exercise his vocation, Guanyin must be accessible. The Chinese located his personal paradise where he could be seen in meditation.

The Guanyin of the Southern Seas features the bodhisattva in meditation about the reflection of the Moon in water. It is indeed a symbol of the basic role of Guanyin of linking earth and sky.

Guanyin is serene and smiling in a posture of royal ease. He sits flexibly on a rock, his body very slightly leaning backwards, one leg bent up and the other resting or hanging. The left hand is placed on the rock and the right forearm on the bent knee. The lotus in the other hand is generally missing.


These statues were assembled from pieces of wood and covered by a brightly painted stucco. Their sizes vary according to the altar for which they are intended. The Nelson Atkins Museum owns a 2.40 m high specimen announced as Liao or Jin, and the British Museum a 1.70 m high specimen announced as Song or Jin.

The most appealing is the figure with the pendant leg, sitting on the edge of a table or of a plinth. Here are three examples with significant remains of polychromy or gilding.

On April 18, 2021 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells a Guanyin announced as Song, lot 8002 estimated HK $ 30M. It is 137 cm high for the figure, 178 cm overall including its stucco plinth. It has traces of original pigments, without gilding.


A Guanyin 131 cm high also announced as Song was sold for € 5.2M including premium by Christie's on December 14, 2016 from a lower estimate of € 200K, lot 27.

An example 175 cm high announced from Northern China was sold for € 9M including premium by Christie's on December 19, 2012 from a lower estimate of € 200K, lot 177. The carving looks deeper for a more authoritative expression typical ot the later phase of this iconography around 800 years ago.

Early Buddhist Sculpture

A Piece of White Metal

7/4/2021

 
There is no doubt that the Eagle on Half-Globe is a test of dies made with copper and white metal planchets at the Philadelphia Mint in 1792. However, it does not comply with the rules of the Congress Act of April 2, 1792 according to which copper coins must be inscribed with their denomination on the reverse.

The archives of the Mint are very incomplete for that first year. We will probably never know what the purpose of this test had been : to qualify a designer or to prepare a new model in copper or silver, which would have been a one cent or a quarter dollar. One fact is for sure : there was no follow-up.

The artist was competent. Miss Liberty's profile is pleasant. The work is attributed to Joseph Wright, considered at that time to be one of the best portrait painters and whose mother was a wax modeler. He made tests for the Mint, known by the list of unpaid bills he established on his deathbed in September 1793. The eagle on the globe had been since 1778 the interpretation chosen by the State of New York for the symbol of the USA.

Two copper coins have survived. The finest, graded MS63 Brown by NGC, was sold for $ 2.23M including premium by Heritage on January 8, 2015. The other is kept at the Smithsonian.

Prior to 2003, two pieces in white metal were known, with weights of 345 and 242 grains, respectively. The composition of one of them was analyzed by NGC : 50% lead and 48% tin.

In 2003 an inventory at the New York Historical Society revealed two other previously unknown specimens in white metal, weighing 247 and 216 grains, respectively. They were both graded AU58 by NGC. No archive concerning them has been found. The lightest has been de-accessionned. It will be sold by Heritage in Dallas on April 24, lot 4960.

There are also two single-sided tests in white metal. The obverse, weighing 480 grains, is graded AU53 by PCGS. The reverse, weighing 433 grains, is graded XF45 by NGC. This pair will be sold later by Heritage.

Coins 1776-92

Jadeite Bangles

7/4/2021

 
Used since the Tang in Chinese jewelry, jadeite has a reputation to protect purity and virtue. Its color is the emerald green, which can take several hues. It is one of the precious elements emanating from the creation of the world. In the same mythology, the circle of the heaven is a symbol of the eternity.

The search for perfection implies a detailed observation of the boulder in the search of the best vein. The realization is not self evident because the carving must not reveal cracks in the stone or a local loss in color or translucency.

The Qing encouraged the work of jadeite in the form of beads that will be assembled into necklaces, and in the form of bangles. The most precious for the use of the emperor is the circular bangle which cannot be carved without much wastage.

The Circle of Happiness will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 20, lot 1766.

It is described as a "cylindrical jadeite bangle of vivid emerald green colour and very good translucency, with inner diameter and thickness approximately 55.21mm and 10.12mm". The  gemologist observed "a subtle range of green to vivid green colours which is characteristic of the finest green jadeite-jade from Myanmar".
Jade

Platinum Sky Moon Tourbillon

6/4/2021

 
With the Star Caliber 2000, released in October 2000, Patek Philippe put the sky in the pockets of its customers. This watch 73 mm in diameter and 32 mm high incorporates 21 complications including the night sky map that rotates counterclockwise.

Six months later the reference 5002, also known as Sky Moon Tourbillon, is the first double-dial wristwatch by Patek Philippe. This watch 42 mm in diameter and 16 mm high incorporates 12 complications activated by 686 components.

The reverse displays the sky chart directly inspired by the Star Caliber 2000 whose mechanism has been further miniaturized. A variant with the sky of the southern hemisphere could be prepared on request.

The results below include the premium.

A very rare 5002G-010 in white gold, assembled in 2012, was sold by Phillips on November 25, 2019 for HK $ 18M. A pink gold 5002 delivered in 2008 was sold for CHF 1.2M by Antiquorum on May 12, 2013 just after the model was discontinued. A yellow gold 5002 assembled in 2011 was sold by Sotheby's on October 8, 2019 for HK $ 11M.

The platinum version is the 5002P. A watch assembled in 2003 was sold by Sotheby's on April 10, 2008 for HK $ 11.8M. A watch assembled in 2010 was sold by Christie's on November 14, 2016 for CHF 1.15M. One of the very last examples, delivered in February 2013, was sold by Antiquorum on May 13, 2018 for CHF 1.05M.

A 5002P-001 purchased in 2004 is estimated US $ 1M for sale by Christie's online from Dubai on April 8, lot 1.

The reference 6002 took over in 2013 with the same name Sky Moon Tourbillon.

SOLD for $ 1.6M including premium

A bid for the rare #PatekPhilippe Sky Moon Tourbillon wristwatch at an online Christie’s #Dubai #auction sits at $1.1 million with three more days to go. It already makes it the Middle East’s most expensive watch put up for sale at an auction.https://t.co/VuvXz5as8C

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) April 5, 2021
New Watches

The Duties of the Grandfather

5/4/2021

 
1722 CE was the 61st and final year of Kangxi's reign. He had devoted his entire life to his role as a political leader, continually concerned with the well-being of his people. This competent emperor did not want his work to disappear with him.

In the third month of that 61st year, he asked to meet one of his many grandsons, the ten-year-old Prince Hongli. The boy indeed had promising gifts, both intellectually and physically. The old emperor, aged 69, took a personal and intensive responsibility for the martial and literary education of the prince. When he died a few months later, a hitherto secret letter was opened, designating Hongli's father as his successor.

Hongli in turn ascended to the throne in 1735 with the reign name Qianlong. His short relationship with his grandfather marked him for life. Kangxi will remain his model, for his attitude and his commitments. An emperor must relentlessly do good by applying the highest virtues day after day. Qianlong's piety for his grandfather was so intense that he would abdicate in the 61st year of his own reign, in a decades-long premeditated tribute to Kangxi.

Qianlong may be the Son of Heaven, but he is also a human being. His father's accession to the empire came at the expense of another prince and his own legitimacy could be challenged. In 1742 he wrote an essay on his justification, for the use of the Imperial Palace.

In 1766 the question remains valid. Qianlong reworks his essay which is inscribed on a tablet for the use of Ji'entang, the Hall of Grace Remembrance. The emperor explains how and why his grandfather passed on his beneficent influence to him, and the daily efforts he never ceased to make to be worthy of this trust. He takes care to detail how an emperor of the Zhou dynasty organized his own succession by dismissing a virtuous but unambitious heir.

A white jade seal is made in the same year for use in the same room, with the three characters for impressing the word Ji'entang in archaic script. The sides are inscribed with the full version of the essay. The knob is a pair of entwined dragons. The sacking of the Summer Palace in 1860 left some veining in the perimeter but the mark and the dragons are not damaged.

This 10.4 cm square seal with a total height of 7.8 cm is estimated HK $ 125M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 22, lot 3603. It is the third seal with strong historical significance narrated by Nicolas Chow in the video shared by Sotheby's.

Qianlong

The Grand Marshal

5/4/2021

 
Chang Tso-lin (Zhang Zuolin) was one of the most powerful warlords. Absolute master of Manchuria since 1916, he launched new hostilities in 1922 to extend his territorial power. He took Beijing in 1927 and claimed the title of "Grand Marshal of the Military Government of the Republic of China".

The new leader of the Kuomintang (Guomindang), Chiang Kai Shek (Jiang Jieshi), set out to reunify China. Chang Tso-lin lost Beijing on June 3, 1928. The next day, he died in the explosion of his private train, perpetrated by a rival faction. His son Chang Hsueh-liang (Zhang Xueliang), nicknamed the Young Marshal, succeeds him.

Currency is essential to ensure the loyalty of soldiers, especially in a civil war. Since 1912, the official currency of the Republic of China has been the dollar.

A silver dollar was prepared with the effigy of Chang Tso-lin in civilian dress on the year of Republic 17, 1928 CE. Its text announces it as memorial, which suggests that it is posthumous. Its terminus ante quem is December 29, 1928, when the Young Marshal rallies to the government of the Kuomintang. Having become politically incorrect, this coin will not be issued.

A specimen graded SP-64 by PCGS of Chang Tso-lin's dollar will be sold on April 6 in Hong Kong by Stack's Bowers, lot 50016.

SOLD for $ 2.3M including premium

Asian Coins

In the Memory of the Empress

4/4/2021

 
The general Xu Da had a leading role in the fall of the Yuan and the establishment of the Ming dynasty. In 1376 CE he married his eldest daughter, aged 14, to Zhu Di, aged 16, the fourth son of the Hongwu emperor.

The very able Zhu Di usurps the empire in 1402 by a coup. His reign name will be Yongle. His wife participates in the court by honoring the virtues. She is also a visionary and certainly contributes to rallying Buddhists to Yongle.

The new empress died five years later. She was given the posthumous name Renxiao Huanghou, evoking her benevolence. Yongle died in 1424. Their son succeeded him with the reign name of Hongxi. He wanted to carry out great reforms and began by piously changing the name of his mother, who posthumously became Empress Wen. He died after eight months of reign.

The survival of a memorial seal of Empress Wen is extraordinary. All other similar jade seals from the Ming dynasty were either transformed or burned by the Qing. This specimen is fragmentary, with traces of calcification created by fire. Half of the square base and an entire side of the dragon's body are missing. Fortunately the fierce head is complete and the identification of the Empress is preserved.

This 10 cm high imperial green jade seal is estimated HK $ 25M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 22, lot 3601.

Early Ming

The Energy of Valentine's Day

2/4/2021

 
In 1962 Zao Wou-Ki is happy. He is madly in love with his second wife, the young and charming May, who understands his art and encourages him.

On April 18 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells 13.2.62, oil on canvas 130 x 162 cm, lot 1021 estimated HK $ 100M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.

The date of this work is doubly auspicious. On the one hand February 13 is the eve of Valentine's Day. On the other hand, the artist maintained doubts about the real date of his birth 42 years earlier, a February 1st or a 13th. This curiosity has not been explained but corresponds almost exactly to the discrepancy between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, which his parents could not ignore less than three years after the October Revolution.

13.2.62 is a synthesis of his two most recent styles. It contains pseudo-calligraphy like the Oracle Bones, in a horizontal composition like the Hurricanes.

It is divided into three registers, the arrangement of which evokes Rothko. The upper part is bright red, the color of the best auspices and of the greatest energy. The two lower registers are silvery white. Pseudo-calligraphies are not centrifugal but ascending, which is another mark of energy. They take off on the boundary between the white sections.

Zao Wou-Ki
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    by 'Pierre'

    Pierre Tavlitzki
    ArtHitParade author and editor

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