Lot 107. In the style of Qian Xuan (Ming dynasty, 1368–1644), Butterflies and Flowers. Monté en rouleau, encre et couleur sur soie. Deux cachets de collectionneurs. Dimensions: 28 x 26 cm. (11 x 10 ¼ in.). Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,800,000. Price realised HKD 1,500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2021

Of square section, the lipped-edge top is supported on a high waist and joined by a thick ogee apron, resting on four tapering cabriole legs ending in upturned tendril and ball feet set into the base stretcher.

Provenance: Previously in the Abel William Bahr Collection (1877-1959), thence by descent.

Note: A. W. Bahr was born to a German father Jürgen Bahr who worked as a civil servant in Shanghai, and a Chinese mother Marie Ling Wan Yin. After receiving an education at St. Francis Xavier’s School in Shanghai, Bahr began his career as a clerk with a wholesale and retail coal merchant and joined the firm of Hopkins, Dunn and Company around 1900. Bahr’s interest in Chinese art seems to have begun around 1905, when he began collecting porcelain from the Kangxi period (1662–1722). In 1908 he promoted the first exhibition of Chinese art in Shanghai, which was organized under the auspices of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. He moved to England in 1910 and continued to make trips to China. In 1927 Bahr’s collection of early jades was exhibited then sold to the Field Museum in Chicago. A catalogue of Bahr’s Chinese painting collection was written by Osvald Siren and published in 1938. Most of his paintings were purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1947. Many public museums and galleries in North America and Great Britain acquired ex-Bahr material, either through purchase or gift, including the Montreal Museum of Art, the Royal Ontario Museum, the British Museum, and the Freer Gallery of Art.

Christie's. Art d'Asie, Paris, 9 june 2021