Bhupen Khakhar (1934-2004), The Banyan Tree, oil on canvas, from the Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak, Estimate: US$1,800,000-2,500,000
This spring, Asian Art Week returns to Christie's New York with five live auctions and two online sales. From a large selection of Indian court paintings, snuff bottles and Japanese hanging scrolls to masterpieces by Bhupen Khakhar, Arpita Singh, Sayed Haider Raza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Francis Newton Souza, Jehangir Sabavala, Ram Kumar and more, outstanding works from every epoch of Asian art wait to be discovered. Highlights include a magnificent 11th-12th century Dali-Kingdom gilt-bronze figure of Guanyin, an important huanghuali recessed leg table; a Western Han Dynasty gilt-bronze dragon head; Buddhist paintings from The David and Nayda Utterberg Collection; an 18th century Mughal painting attributed to Mihr Chand; an Imperial famille rose-enameled glass snuff bottle, formerly from The Zhang Tungyu Collection; and a Yixing slip-decorated snuff bottle, from the collections of Lilla S. Perry and Bob C. Stevens.
This season's Asian Art Week exhibitions at Christie's Rockefeller Center galleries will begin on March 18th and be by appointment only. To make reservations, click here.
South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Online
March 15 at 10am-March 30 at 10am EDT
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 22, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm
Christie’s online auction of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art complements the live auction of works from this category, to be held in New York on March 23rd. Together, these two sales celebrate a wide variety of artistic practices from the South Asian subcontinent and its diaspora across the 20th and 21st centuries. The online sale includes excellent modern works on paper by artists Maqbool Fida Husain, Francis Newton Souza, Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, Manjit Bawa, Ganesh Pyne and Nasreen Mohamedi, alongside canvases by Ram Kumar, Sayed Haider Raza, Bikash Bhattacharjee, George Keyt, Ratan Parimoo and Laxman Pai. Other highlights are an embroidered panel by Meera Mukherjee and sets of wooden toys by K.G. Subramanyan. Rounding out the catalogue is a section of exceptional contemporary works by artists including Nalini Malani, Jagannath Panda, Subodh Gupta and Muzzumil Ruheel.
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Rivers and Mountains Far from the World:
Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Rachelle R. Holden Collection
Online auction
March 15 at 10am-March 29 at 10am EDT
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 22, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm and
March 23, 10am-2pm
The sale features 110 lots of snuff bottles across many media, including glass, porcelain, agate, jade and painted enamel on metal. The Rachelle R. Holden Collection offers new and established collectors the opportunity to acquire rare and fine examples featuring some of the most prestigious provenances in the genre.
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Japanese and Korean Art Including the Collection of David and Nayda Utterberg
Auction: March 22, 10am EDT
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm
This season’s Japanese and Korean Art Including the Collection of David and Nayda Utterberg sale is led by the important Buddhist paintings from the Utterberg Collection. Among our diverse selection of Japanese and Korean art, this sale features the earliest example of a Korean painting of a literati gathering with true view; Katsushika Hokusai’s masterworks; a fine group of modern and contemporary art including Nihonga; selections of lacquer works, sculptures, metalworks, screens and important Korean works of art and paintings.
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Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Under the Well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa, Estimate: US$300,000-400,000
Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art
Auction: March 23, 8:30am
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 22, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm
This season’s sale features works from across India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia, including a large and impressive selection of Indian court paintings. Highlights among the classical Indian paintings include a folio from the so-called ‘Bharany Ramayana’ by the first generation of artists after Nainsukh and Manaku, an eighteenth-century Mughal painting attributed to Mihr Chand, and an illustration from the unusual and bold ‘Impey’ Ramayana series from late eighteenth-century Murshidabad. The sale also highlights Indian sculpture, including an important dated buff sandstone figure of a seated Jina and a Chola-period South Indian bronze figure of dancing Krishna formerly in the collection of John D. Rockefeller III. A assortment of Tibetan paintings and important Himalayan bronzes will also be presented, led by a large and significant fifteenth-century gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya from Central Tibet.
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South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art
Including Works from the Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak
Auction: March 23, 11am EDT
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 22, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm
Along with an online auction running from March 15-30, this sale presents a significant group of works that celebrate diverse artistic practices from the South Asian subcontinent and its diaspora in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Part I of the live sale comprises a group of important works from the visionary collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak, longtime patrons of the arts and dedicated philanthropists. Highlights include major paintings by Bhupen Khakhar, Manjit Bawa, Arpita Singh and Sayed Haider Raza, with impressive exhibition histories, appearing at auction for the first time. Also included are exceptional works by Maqbool Fida Husain, Rameshwar Broota, Jogen Chowdhury and Jagdish Swaminathan, all close friends of the collectors.
Part II is led by an important group of works from an esteemed private collection, including remarkable paintings by Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Francis Newton Souza, Jehangir Sabavala, Ram Kumar and Raza among others, representing the best of South Asian modernism. Complementing these is a fine group of paintings by Souza from the collection of Peter Jackson, acquired in the 1960s and held privately in the United Kingdom for over half a century. Other highlights of the auction are a monumental painting by Gulammohammed Sheikh, unseen in public for almost thirty years, and significant works by Zarina, Natvar Bhavsar, Bikash Bhattacharjee, George Keyt and Mohammad Kibria.
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Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
Auctions: March 24 and 25, 8:30am each day
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 22, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm and
March 23, 10am-2pm
Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art features works from important private collections of ceramics and early Chinese works of art, as well as works from institutions such as the USC Pacific Asia Museum and the Strong National Museum of Play. Highlights of the sale include an important Dali-Kingdom parcel-gilt bronze figure of standing Guanyin, superb Tang and Song-dynasty ceramics from the Zande Lou Collection, a very rare Yongzheng guan-type crackle-glazed mallet vase formerly in the collection of Dr. Carl Kempe, an important and massive Huanghuali recessed leg table, a Western Han-dynasty gilt-bronze dragon head, early Buddhist sculptures from an important private Japanese collection and rank badges from the David Hugus collection.
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Rivers and Mountains Far from the World:
Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Rachelle R. Holden Collection
Auction: March 24, 12pm EDT
Viewing: March 18, 19, 21, 22, 10am-5pm and March 20, 1-5pm and
March 23, 10am-2pm
Rivers and Mountains Far from the World: Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Rachelle R. Holden Collection borrows its evocative title from the scholarly catalogue published by the late collector in 1994. Rachelle Holden purchased her first snuff bottle in 1974, finding the art form fascinating as it combined all of the classic forms of Chinese art: calligraphy, poetry and painting. The sale features 114 outstanding snuff bottles across many media, including glass, porcelain, agate, jade and painted enamel on metal. The Rachelle R. Holden Collection offers new and established collectors the opportunity to acquire rare and fine examples, featuring some of the most prestigious provenances, including Lilla S. Perry, Bob C. Stevens, Alice B. McReynolds, the Ko Family, the Mei Ling Collection, and the J & J Collection.
Highlights include an extremely rare and important imperial famille rose-enameled glass snuff bottle, Qianlong mark and of the period (1736-1795), formerly from the Zhang Tungyu Collection, Shanghai, as well as a superb Yixing slip-decorated snuff bottle, 1750-1830, from the collections of Lilla S. Perry and Bob C. Stevens, and a magnificent and masterfully carved black and white jade snuff bottle, Suzhou school, 1740-1850.
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Imperial Palace Workshops, Beijing, A Magnificent and Extremely Rare Imperial Famille Rose-Enameled Glass Snuff Bottle, Qianlong period (1736-1795), Estimate: US$400,000-600,000
SPECIAL EXHIBITION
Wang Fangyu: A Wenren in America
March 18-23
Wang Fangyu: A Wenren in America is a special exhibition of paintings and calligraphy by China’s foremost artists, collectors and scholars of the 20th century. The exhibition explores the rich network of artistic friendships Wang Fangyu built and cultivated over five decades–connecting cultural figures such as Zhang Daqian, Hu Shi, Lin Yutang, C. C. Wang, Yang Renkai, Qi Gong and Zhang Chonghe–that shaped the discourses on collecting and exhibiting Chinese paintings in America. Rarely-seen artworks gifted to and collected by Wang Fangyu, as well as his own art, will be featured.
VIRTUAL EVENTS:
Virtual Preview of Japanese and Korean Art Including the Collection of David and Nayda Utterberg and Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
Vicki Paloympis, Head of Sale; Michelle Cheng, Senior Specialist; Sophia Zhou, Associate Specialist; Lucy Yan, Cataloguer; and Hua Zhou, Cataloguer, Asian Art, Christie's
Live lecture via Zoom, Thursday, March 17 at 5pm EDT
Adopt, Adapt, Assimilate, and Transform: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture
Robert D. Mowry: Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus, Harvard Art Museums, and Senior Consultant, Christie’s
Live lecture via Zoom, Friday, March 18 at 1pm EDT
The Bottles They Carried
Clare Chu, Chinese Snuff Bottle Curator, Dealer, Scholar and Lecturer and Andrew Lueck, Vice President, Specialist, Asian Art, Christie’s
Live lecture via Zoom, Sunday, March 20 at 12pm EDT
Read more and register, click here