Metal | Ceramic | Enamel | Jade and Hardstone | Organic | Painting | Bibliography
Click to view contentAs in previous years, our Winter exhibition coincides with Asian Art In London, and we are most fortunate that this year The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army will be on show at the British Museum.
Most of the ceramics and works of art we are offering for sale have rested in private collections and museums for many years, and many of these are being seen for the first time in decades or even longer. We endeavour to include in our exhibitions works of art of a high quality that are rare and have a special dimension, making them different and, in some instances, thought-provoking.
Our metal section shows the range of the bronze-worker’s skill as it stretches from rare archaic examples to later archaising revivals and sensitively rendered figural subjects. We show imperial ceramics, including a pair of jardinières from the imperial collection and thereafter in the Harrison and Russell collections. The versatility of the jade-worker’s talents can be seen in restrained examples that allow the stone to show all of its natural qualities, in a magnificent boulder, and in a fine white imperial brush pot. The Qianlong Emperor’s taste for the
archaic can be seen in a large cloisonné enamel dou, and two other cloisonné works of art display the rare use of a yellow background to the main design.
For me, memories of past collectors are brought back by the large glass painting formerly in the collection of Her Imperial Highness the Princess of Berar. A visit to Hyderabad House in Kensington Palace Gardens was akin to travelling back in time. The Princess was a witness to great changes in history and, after her move to London, continued her strong interest in the arts of India and China.
I would like to thank the following people for their hard work, dedication and enthusiasm in the production of this catalogue: Ken Adlard for the photography; Amanda Brookes for the design; Anthony Evans for some of the translation; Paul Forty for the proofreading; Dominic Jellinek for his assistance in tracing the provenance of the turquoise-glazed jardinières; Richard Owers of Beacon Press, which is a carbon neutral printer, for the printing; Melissa Williamson, assisted by Katharine Butler, for co-ordinating the project; and Miranda Clarke for the catalogue preparation.
Roger Keverne