Lot 24. A rare and important blue and white copper-red 'dragon' tianqiuping vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 55.2cm high; 12.3cm diam of mouth; 17.1cm diam of foot. Estimate US$400,000 – 600,000 (€370,000 - €550,000). Sold for US$3,690,500. © Bonhams 2025

New York – During the annual Asia Week New York this March, Bonhams will present four live sales – Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art including the Bernard and Francine Wald Collection of Snuff Bottles, Part I, Classical and Modern Chinese Paintings, Indian and Himalayan Art, and Fine Japanese and Korean Art – celebrating expertly crafted works of art from across Asia.

"Asia Week New York is always an exciting time of year and we are thrilled with the strong slate of sales we will present at Bonhams, featuring important and impressive works of art from across the continent," said Dessa Goddard, Senior VP and US Head of Asian Art. "We are continuing our track record of bringing notable collections to auction with part one of the Francine and Bernard Wald collection of fine Chinese snuff bottles as well as beautiful huanghuali furniture and ceramics from a private collection in Greenwich, Connecticut. Additionally, we are also honored to be entrusted with the sale of seven lots of Chinese porcelain from the Philadelphia Museum of Art."

Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
March 17

A rare and important blue and white copper-red 'dragon' tianqiuping vase, Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-1795), is the highlight of the Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale on March 17. Estimated at US$400,000 – 600,000, this celestial sphere vase with a slightly compressed body and long straight neck represents the antiquarian movement in the early Qing dynasty, paying homage to the high style and technological achievement of the 15th century Ming dynasty imperial porcelains. The painterly 'dragon and cloud' motif was derived from the Song dynasty (960-1279) ink paintings in the Qing Court Collection. A true masterpiece of its type, the only known comparable work is in the collection of the Beijing Palace Museum.

Lot 24. A rare and important blue and white copper-red 'dragon' tianqiuping vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark and of the period (1736-1795); 55.2cm high; 12.3cm diam of mouth; 17.1cm diam of foot. Estimate US$400,000 – 600,000 (€370,000 - €550,000). Sold for US$3,690,500 © Bonhams 2025

The imposing globular body rising elegantly to a waisted cylindrical neck set off by a 'cloud collar' band over three splendid three-claw dragons with muscular bodies and flowing manes all contesting the elusive 'flaming pearl' on a field of steaming cloud flurries continuing up the cylindrical neck over roiling waves at the foot, a six-character Qianlong mark in underglaze blue centered in the recessed foot.

Provenance: Oriental Decor, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, 29 October 1971
Rolly Michaux Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
The Collection of Ron Rolly and Ronald R. Michaux.

Note: Part of the private collection of Ron Rolly and Ronald Michaux, former art dealers and owners of the Rolly Michaux Gallery, this splendid vase was discovered in their Marlborough residence in 2023. According to receipt found in their home records, the vase was purchased on October 29, 1971, from Oriental Decor, Inc., a well-known Boston Newbury Street gallery then owned by Joe Rotti and Arthur Rabinowitz, and a destination for discerning collectors looking for fine art from China and Japan.

The Rolly Michaux Gallery appeared to share the same address in 1971. In 1975, Rolly-Michaux bought a gallery space nearby in the famed Vendome Hotel building, the site of a historic fire four years before, and then renovated as a posh gallery location. It remained a well-known gallery for collectors of European art until Ron Rolly's death, in 2020; Mr. Michaux then sold the space.

This spectacular vase has a nearly identical example in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), catalog no. 211, p. 231.

See a different execution of a 'dragon in clouds' Tianqiuping also in the Palace Museum Collection and published, op.cit, on the preceding page, catalog p. 230, no. 210. See the same steamy waves as the present lot on a two-dragon meiping published in Lu Zhangshen, ed., Zhongguo Guojia Bowuguan gudai ishu xilie congshu: Zhongguo gudai ciqi yishu, catalog no. 123, pp. 288-291, and another Yongzheng meiping formerly in the collection of Taji Shuichi collection published in Treasures from Japan. Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from Yamanaka & Co., Ltd. and Other Japanese Collections （東瀛遺珠：山中商會及日本舊藏名窑瓷器）, Beijing, 2019, catalog no. 86, pp. 218-219.

As recorded by Huang Qinghua in his extensive essay preceding this lot, dragon-decorated tianqiuping in underglaze blue and copper red were rare and varied in design; all were spectacular achievements of the Jingdezhen kilns in the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. Extremely difficult to successfully fire due to their size and the volatility of the copper-red glaze, the few extant are prized by collectors. See a Yongzheng mark and period single dragon tianqiuping sold Christie's, Hong Kong, 30 November 2023, lot 2840; another single dragon vase, Qianlong, sold Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 16-17 May 1989, another Qianlong single dragon vase sold at the American Art Galleries, 27 December 1920, lot 387.

The sale will also feature a curated selection of huanghuali furniture from private collections, as well as an outstanding selection of ceramics from the Tang to the Qing dynasties. The standout from the private Connecticut collection is an 18th century huanghuali square table, estimated at US$60,000 – 80,000. The highlights from an important private collection include a rare Kangxi imperial Falangcai bowl, decorated with stylized flowers and leafy foliage over a yellow ground, estimated at US$120,000 – 180,000 and a magnificent set of eight famille rose Buddhist emblems, estimated at US$350,000 – 500,000.

Lot 9. A huanghuali square table with humpbacked stretchers, fangzhuo, 18th century; 87 X 97.2 x 96.8cm overall. Estimate US$60,000 - US$80,000 (€55,000 - €74,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2025

The gracefully porpotioned table of typical mitred, mortise-and-tenon frame construction with four board flush floating panel top tongue-and-grooved into the inside edge of the frame with three transverse stretchers with exposed tenons, all above a narrow waist and shaped, beaded aprons carved with scrollwork cut from a single piece of wood, the square sectioned beaded legs half-lapped into the aprons, joined by high humpbacked stretchers and terminating in hoof feet.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 19 March 1997, lot 417
Private Collection, Greenwich, Connecticut

Note: The waisted square table with humpbacked stretchers and horse-hoof feet derives from the design of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The incorporation of intricately decorated curving aprons, however, was more prevalent in the 17th and 18th centuries. The current lot features the captivating grain of the huanghuali wood and a more simplified apron design. For a similar table with carved chi dragon design, see the huanghuali square table in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of David and Michele Dewey 2000.268.2, which shares the same height as the current lot but has a slightly smaller top panel. Additionally, a comparable example appeared at Christie's New York, 25 September 2020, lot 1646.

Lot 22. A rare yellow-ground falangcai bowl, Kangxi four-character yuzhi mark in black enamel within double square and of the period (1662-1722); 3cm diam. Estimate US$120,000 - US$180,000 (€110,000 - €170,000). Sold for US$102,100. © Bonhams 2025

Elegantly potted, the deeply sloping sides rising from a circular foot to a flared rim, decorated on the exterior with four stylized flowers, their petals superbly drawn and delicately painted in shades of pink and white enclosing a black enamel center, each flower exuding its own leafy foliage with budding florets, the four blossoms set against a bright yellow ground with the base and interior unglazed, the four-character Kangxi yuzhi mark rendered in black enamel within a double square.

Note: No other falangcai bowl of this design on an Imperial yellow ground is known to date with its black enamel use in the center of the blooms, delicate rendering and shading of the tendrils and leaves and in the black enameled Kangxi yuzhi mark on the base. This bowl represents an early stage in the technical developments achieved in the falangcai Imperial Workshop of the Kangxi period, established in 1693. The Kangxi emperor's fascination with innovative technology motivated him to establish bespoke Imperial workshops in the Forbidden City, staffed with the best creative craftsmen in China and Jesuit missionaries well-versed in the latest technological developments. The use of colloidal gold, likely introduced from Europe to achieve the deep rose-shaded pink, together with the lead arsenate white enamel mixed with other colors created the superb pastel shades in the blossoms, leaves and tendrils of the present lot. The use of black enamel in the reign mark appears unique in falangcai publications to date, to be found on a few enamel on copper examples in the Palace Museum, Beijing and in the Taipei Palace Museum. See Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, vol 5, Painted Enamels in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Beijing, 2011, pl. 10 and 11.

A small number of yellow-ground falangcai bowls exist in Museum collections and have appeared at auction. See one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 5, another in the British Museum, Percival David Collection, and published in Rosemary Scott, Illustrated Catalogue of Qing Enamelled Ware in the Percival Davi Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1991, pl. A806, and two bowls in the National Palace Museum exhibition publication Ch'ing Dynasty Enamelled Porcelains of the Imperial Ateliers, Taipei, 1992, catalog nos. 3 and 4.

A falangcai yellow-ground floral bowl with a pink enameled Kangxi yuzhi mark was sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 28 May 2014; see also Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29 November 1978, lot 369, another 12-13 May 1976, lot 364; and one from the collection of Paul and Helen Bernat, sold 15 November 1988, lot 48. For a coral ground 'peony' bowl painted with blossoms on a yellow field, see Christie's, Hong Kong, 30 May 2022, lot 2727.

Additional highlights include:

Lot 27. A rare carved celadon-glazed 'phoenix' bottle vase, Yongzheng seal mark and of the period (1723-1735); 29.8cm high. Estimate US$400,000 - US$600,000 (€370,000 - €550,000). Sold for US$1,754,500. © Bonhams 2025

Raised on a small, flared foot supporting the globular low-set body rising to eight-petal flower head forming a 'lotus' mouth, the body superbly carved and molded with a two splendid phoenix, each capturing a leafy stem in its beak and paired with an elegant chilong amidst undulating floral scrolls issuing leafy tendrils as they cavort with wings and split tails outstretched under a cloud-collar and keyfret band set off by a pair of lion mask and ring bosses, the slender neck carved with stiff lappets separated by a single bow string from a tight, elegant cloud collar enclosing 'precious jewels' under the petal-lobed band at the rim, the masterfully-carved surface all under a fine pale sea-green celadon glaze stopping evenly at the foot ring and repeated on the recessed foot, the six-character Yongzheng seal mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: Collection of Robert Skelton (1929-2022) (Keeper of the Indian Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London), by repute, and thence by descent
Acquired from the above

Note: The present vase harmoniously combines the Yongzheng emperor's (r. 1722-1735) refined aesthetic with his reverence for antiquity and penchant for artistic innovation.

The vase's essential form derives from Han dynasty bronze wine vessels (hu) with elongated pear-shaped bodies and 'garlic'-form mouths, such as the one from Michael Goedhuis sold in our London rooms, 17 May 2023, lot 302. These archaic precedents were cast in metal for ritual use and their surfaces were unadorned.

In the Ming dynasty, artisans revived the ancient shape and created fresh interpretations in bronze and porcelain. The latter were typically painted underglaze blue or overglaze enamels with contemporaneous subjects such as figural scenes, scrolling lotus, dragons amidst flowers, or fishponds. The bulbous mouths of these vases ranged from smooth to lobed to 'lotus bud' form.

The present vase draws upon both historical precedents by closely following the silhouette of Han dynasty versions, while adopting the porcelain medium and 'lotus' mouth of Ming dynasty vases. The treatment of the surface, however, is a distinct expression of the Yongzheng emperor's taste. The swelling lower body is finely carved in relief with archaistic phoenix and chilong amidst scrolling vines, all below a band of upright leaves, and an upper band of Buddhist flames within lappets. Two additional archaistic flourishes adorn the sides in the form of mock mask-and-ring handles. Through the blending of design elements from different periods, the vase conveys the Emperor's ability to harmonize the past with the present. Meanwhile, the lotus and flames symbolize his religious beliefs.

The richly carved surface is bathed under a lustrous celadon glaze that unifies the composition and imparts a sense of restraint and serenity. The choice of color nods to the celebrated imperial monochrome wares of the Song dynasty, which drew their chromatic inspiration from jade, a material associated with virtue and purity since antiquity. Through each of these aesthetic choices, the present vase encapsulates the Yongzheng emperor's erudition and the principals that guided his governance of the Qing empire.

Only one other vase of this design is known, which appears to be the mate to the present example. It was preserved in the Qing Court Collection and now resides in the Beijing Palace Museum (coll. no. 故00151998), viewable on the Museum's website, and illustrated in illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 270, pl. 99.

Monochrome-glazed versions of this vase embellished only with the 'lotus' mouth and mock handles, and no further adornment, were also produced for the Yongzheng emperor. See three celadon-glazed examples, including one in the Beijing Palace Museum (coll. no. 故00151915); one included in the exhibition Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 331; and one in the Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Art, Geneva, exhibited and published in Mille ans de Monochromes. Vaisselle sacrée et profane des empereurs de Chine, Fondation Baur, 5Continents Editions, Milan, 2018, p. 194, cat. no. 69. The collection of the Beijing Palace Museum also contains a 'robin's egg'-glazed version (coll. no. 故00148947). Three vases of this form belong to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, including a 'tea dust'-glazed version (coll. no. C.132-1939) from the Eumorfopolous Collection; a red-hued flambé-glazed vase (coll. no. C.382-1910) from the Salting Bequest; and a 'robin's egg'-glazed example (coll. no. 601&A-1907) given by Mrs. Julia C. Gulland.

Yongzheng mark and period 'lotus'-mouth vases are extremely rare on the market. The only known example to be offered at auction in recent years is a blue and white vase painted with composite floral scroll, sold three times at Sotheby's Hong Kong: 15 May 1990, lot 135; 29 April 1997, lot 408; and 8 April 2011, lot 3117. See also a Yongzheng mark and period moonflask similarly carved to the present vase with archaistic chilong and scrolling vines under a celadon glaze sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, Lot 876.

Lot 15. A rare huanghuali 'four-corners exposed' official's hat armchair, sichutou guanmaoyi, 17th century; 116.3cm high; 69.3cm wide overall; 57.2cm deep overall; 49.6m seat height. Estimate US$150,000 - US$250,000 (€140,000 - €230,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2025

The elegant pitched toprail supported by a plain, well-figured back splat flanked by tubular back posts which continue through the seat to form the hind supports and are tenoned to finely shaped arm rests supported by s-shaped posts set into the rectangular framed seat fitted with a soft mat above two curved stretchers under the frame, the front apron carved with a xiangcai pattern set off by a beaded edge which continues down the front spandrels set into the footrest joined to the front posts and stepped stretchers, the finely figured wood a rich honey-brown color throughout.

Provenance: A Maryland Private Collection
Christie's, New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1666

Note: This example, a sichutou guanmaoyi, is one example of the classic lines and graceful elegance of classical Chinese furniture. Huanghuali yokeback armchairs such as the present chair, through the simplicity and balance of their lines represent the spare but opulent aesthetic of the Ming elite. Chairs such as this are distinguished by their large size, the generous sweep of the crestrail, well-shaped terminals and elegantly-curved front and back posts.

The remarkable level of carpentry of this chair is also visible in the plain S-shaped back splat, which is tongue-and-grooved into the underside of the top rail and tenoned to the back member of the seat frame.

The term guanmaoyi refers to the winged hat worn by Ming officials at formal events. It conveyed status and authority associated with the highest-ranking classes in China. Prior to the Ming dynasty, yokeback armchairs served as seats for Imperial family members and deities. Gaozong's empress (Gaozong r. 1127-1162), for example, is depicted gracefully seated on a yokeback armchair in one of a series of portraits of Song dynasty Imperial figures in the Palace Museum, Taipei; see S. Handler, Austere Luminosity of Classical Chinese Furniture, London, 2001, p.46, fig.4.4.

See a nearly identical example published in Curtis Evarts, "Classical Chinese Furniture in the Piccus Collection", in The Journal of The Classical Chinese Furniture Society, Autumn, 1992, p. 11, figure 11 and Curtis Evarts, "From Ornate to Unadorned, The Study of a Group of Yokeback Chairs", op.cit.,Spring, 1993, p. 31, fig. 9, and Grace Wu Bruce, The Best of the Best, The MQJ Collection of Ming Furniture, Vol. 1, pp. 220-221. Compare with a nearly-identical huanghuali yokeback armchair, late 16th-early 17th century, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated by N. Berliner, 'When Vernacular Meets Fine: Thoughts on Chinese Furniture Studies', Chinese Furniture: Selected Articles from Orientations 1984-1999, Hong Kong, 1999, pp.215, fig.11. A similar huanghuali yokeback chair, 17th century, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 20 March 2012, lot 127.

For other examples of this type see Christie's Hong Kong 30 May 2022, lot 2902; another sold Christie's Hong Kong 28 May 2021, lot 2802; see Bonhams, London, The H Collection, 13 May 2021, lot 37; and a related chair sold Bonhams, Paris, 26 October 2023, lot 60.

Lot 13. A rare pair of huanghuali low-back armchairs, meiguiyi, 18th century; 82.7cm high; 57.8cm wide; 143.8cm deep (2). Estimate US$150,000 - US$250,000 (€140,000 - €230,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2025

The elegant 'rose chairs' composed of a horizontal top rail tongue-and grooved-into a beaded frame of apposed dragon heads centered on a central jewel and continuing down the back posts to rest on a low horizontal railing repeated on the sides and supported by pillar-shaped beaded struts, the railing tenoned into the back framing members which are run through the seats to form the back legs, the tubular arm rests ending in stove-pipe terminals joined to the seat frame fitted with a soft mat seat supported on the underside by two bowed stretchers, the front apron beautifully carved with a scrolling leaves design integrated with a beaded border running down the sides of the tubular legs and tenoned to the foot rest, the legs joined by stepped stretchers, the wood a rich honey color throughout.

Provenance: Property of A British Columbia collector
Sotheby's, New York, 23 September 1997, lot 465

Note: Low-back armchairs have been recorded in paintings since the Song period; the Song originals were sometimes made with the back splat and arm rests the same height. See Wang Shixiang, "Development of Furniture Design and Construction from the Song to the Ming," Chinese Furniture. Selected Articles from Orientations 1984 - 1994 p. 44, where he cites details from two paintings: Appreciating Antiques around a Stove (Wei Lu Bo Gu tu) by Zhang Xunli , p. 45, Fig 7 and Eighteen Scholars (Shiba Xueshi), an anonymous painting attributed to the Southern Song but probably early Ming, p. 45, Fig 8 illustrating such chairs in use. The few existing examples, such as this lot, are dated to the early Qing period, when they became popular as hall chairs which could be drawn forward when needed for conversation. Such an event is recorded in a detail from a woodcut illustration to the San Guo zhi from the early Qing Period, published in Curtis Evarts, The Liang Yi Collection, Volume 1, Huanghuali, Hong Kong, United Sky Resources Limited, 2007, no. 15, pp. 64-65, where he also illustrates a nearly identical chair save for the design of the back apron.

Meiguiyi can be found in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing. See Hu Desheng, The Palace Museum Collection, A Treasury of Ming and Qing Furniture, Beijing, Forbidden City Publishing House, 2007, Volume 1, pp. 122-125, figs. 103-106. See also Grace Wu Bruce, Two Decades of Ming Furniture, Beijing, The Forbidden City Publishing House, 2010, pp. 120-121; and Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, Chinese Furniture, The Hung Collection, Chicago, Art Media Resources, Volume II, figure 16, pp. 42-43 and Volume 1, no. 22, pp. 84-85; see also a pair of rose chairs formerly in the collection of Dr. Y.S. Yip, published in Grace Wu Bruce, Ming Furniture, the Dr. Y.S. Yip Collection, Sotheby's 2015, no. 3, pp. 58-60. This classic form is illustrated in Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture, Chicago, Art Media Resources, Volume II Plates, figs. A63-68, pp. 40-42.

Se a pair of similar low-back armchairs sold Bonhams, New York, 12 September 2016, lot 6008 from the Collection of John and Celeste Fleming; a pair of low-back armchairs, 19th century, sold Christie's, New York, 24 March 2023, lot 1166; and pair of spindle-back meiguiyi sold Christies, New York, 21 March 2014, lot 2311.

Lot 120. A superb and rare Dingyao 'persimmon'-glazed cupstand, Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127); 10.3cm diam; 5.5cm high, (Japanese wood box and brocade bag; Japanese 1972 catalog). Estimate US$60,000 - US$80,000 (€55,000 - €74,000). Sold for US$140,200 © Bonhams 2025

The alms-bowl-shape receptacle with deeply rounded sides and incurved rim, joined to a wide circular saucer curved up to a lipless rim and supported on a tall foot splayed at the rim, covered overall with a saturated russet-brown glaze showing a slightly variegated dark-brown and iridescent surface, the neatly pared foot rim unglazed revealing the fine white porcelain body.
 

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo

Exhibited: The Fifth Antique Dealer's Fair & Exhibition in Tokyo, 8-12 October 1972

Published: Exhibition Catalog of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, 1972, p. 23, no. 40

Note: The delicate potting, elegant proportion, coupled with the luxurious 'persimmon'-brown glaze make the present cupstand an exceptional work of art, fully representing the understated yet sophisticated quality of Song ceramics. Handled by eminent Japanese dealer Mayuyama & Co., Ltd. in the 1970s, this cupstand is well-preserved and in excellent condition.

Footed saucers of this type with a ring-shaped receptacle appeared as early as the Six Dynasties. During the Tang dynasty, preparation of tea-drinking required many tools and utensils. Cupstands and tea-related vessels inevitably gained popularity as the banquet grew larger and more elaborate. Documented in the Song dynasty painting Wenhui tu (Literary Gathering) by the Huizong Emperor (A.D. 1082-1135), in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, a young servant holds a set of a white cup and black cupstand in his left hand, with several cups and cupstands of the same style neatly arranged in front of him on a square table. Fig. 1

Fig. 1 Detail of Literary Gathering, Huizong (A.D. 1082-1135), Song Dynasty, ink and color on silk, Palace Museum, Taipei

 

Scholars have speculated if the black cupstand in Wenhui tu was made of black lacquer, and perhaps the white rims were silver mounts for protecting the edges of the lacquer ware. Compare the Song dynasty black lacquer cupstand of similar silhouette but with lobed middle dish, without silver mount, in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, illustrated by Kwok, The Eternal Feast: Banqueting in Chinese Art from the 10th to 14th Century, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 2019, pp. 168-169, Cat. 39.

Dingyao cupstands of this form are often glazed in 'persimmon'-brown or black, and several examples exist in museum and private collections today. However, the intensity of the persimmon color and the refined execution of its form makes this lot the best of any example to come to auction. One similar example in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums is illustrated by Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 102-105, no. 12, where the author explores the origin of russet-glazed Ding ware: "By Song times, white Ding ware had gained appreciation at the imperial court. Wanting to make their wares harmonize with vessels in precious materials used at the court, potters at the Ding kilns began to coat some pieces with dark glazes, in imitation of the brown and black lacquers that were prized at the time." Mowry also illustrates another Dingyao cupstand of this glaze and shape, but with a lobed saucer dish, in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum, op. cit., pp. 105-106, no. 13, describing both the Harvard and Saint Louis examples as "closely follow(in) their metal and lacquer prototypes in form, even allowing the saucer to close the bottom of the receptacle".

Other notable examples of Dingyao 'persimmon'-glazed cupstand include: in the Meiyintang Collection and now on display at the Musee Rietberg, Switzerland, illustrated by Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume I, London, 1994, pp. 202-203, no. 354; a very similar Dingyao 'persimmon'-glazed cupstand and matching tea bowl in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated by Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no. 83.

Lot 109. An extremely rare Dingyao incense stand, Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127); 11.5cm diam; 7.9cm high. Estimate US$25,000 - US$35,000 (€23,000 - €32,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2025

The upper register with four florets opening between wedged borders, the lower register with four pagoda-shaped openings separating the slightly bulging feet, covered overall with a cream-white glaze running to deeper tones in areas, the interior partially glazed revealing the fine porcelain body.

Provenance: Unique Art Collections, Taipei, 23 March 1997, lot 1167 (part lot)
Penglai Shanfang Collection, Tainan, Taiwan
Connecticut Private Collection

Note: The stand, possibly modeled after a metalware prototype, appears to be unique. Some of the design elements can be found in Qingbai cupstands, such as the floret opening and the triangular wedged rim.

The result of the thermoluminescence testing is consistent with the suggested dating of this lot, Oxford Authentication sample No. P124m28, 16 October 2024.

Classical and Modern Chinese Paintings
March 18

On March 18, the Classical and Modern Chinese Paintings sale will explore the dynamic history of this great tradition with paintings and calligraphy that span centuries. One highlight of the sale is Portrait of an Imperial Guard painted circa 1760 attributed to Ai Qimeng (Ignaz Sichelbart, 1708-1780) and Jin Tingbiao (Active 1757-1767), a European and Chinese court artist working collaboratively in the Qianlong Imperial atelier, estimated at US$400,000 – 600,000. Depicted on silk, the subject of the painting was one of a hundred brave warriors and exemplary officials whose portraits once lined the walls of Ziguang Ge (Hall of Purple Brightness), the Qianlong Emperor's military hall of valor in the Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing.

Lot 852. Ai Qimeng (Ignaz Sichelbart, 1708-1780) and Jin Tingbiao (Active 1757-1767), Portrait of a First-Rank Imperial Guard in the East Turkestan Campaign, 1763-1764. Mounted on backing paper, framed and glazed, ink and color on silk, 133 x 72.1cm. Estimate US$400,000 - US$600,000 (€370,000 - €550,000). Sold for US$508,500. © Bonhams 2025

Provenance: Acquired in Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) by a German officer
Purchased in Hamburg around 1902 from the German officer
Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen, 21 November 2013, auction 845, lot 572

Note: Unnamed, this figure can be positively identified as one of a hundred brave warriors and exemplary officials whose portraits were painted by artists working in the Qing Imperial studios in early 1760s. The hundred portraits once lined the walls of Ziguang Ge (Hall of Purple Brightness), the Qianlong Emperor's military hall of valor in the Zhongnanhai compound, located in the West Garden in Beijing across a small lake from the Forbidden City. Ziguang Ge was also where the Qianlong Emperor hosted official state banquets and received foreign envoys, so these powerful images of armed warriors would have been an impactful spectacle to those who sat among them.

The one hundred individuals depicted in the 1760s series earned their high accolades in the successful 1755-1759 East Turkestan military campaign. A notable conquest by any measure, the extended battle quashed an ethnic minority rebellion and brought the far western region Xinjiang (lit. 'new frontier') under the control of the Qing dynasty. As development of the frontier regions and expansion of empire was a key goal during the Qianlong period, the heroic warriors were lauded for their bravery and patriotism, and their portraits celebrated their exalted status within the Manchu hierarchy.

Numerous details in this portrait indicate the subject was an Imperial Bodyguard of the First Rank, likely a title afforded him as a result of his heroic combat activities. Like many of the hundred portraits, this subject bears a long bow and quiver of arrows, in addition to being armed with a long sword in a shagreen sheath with gilt fittings. The single-eyed peacock feather dan yan hua ling, and knob that adorn his hat are additional indications of his elevated status, and the hint of an archer's ring on his thumb expresses his unflinching readiness.

The hybrid approach of the painting reflects the Qing courts' attempt at reconciling Chinese and Western aesthetic traditions. The use of shading with opaque pigments in the facial features aesthetically resembles a European oil painting and contrasts with the approach for the figure's clothes and hands. European painters, predominantly Jesuits, had been employed in the Qing imperial ateliers since the Kangxi period. Some, like Guiseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining, 1688-1766) worked under the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors to produce their own work, and as well as working with the Chinese painters in the studio. Often their collaborations involved major commissions dedicated to glorifying Qing military conquests, with portraits, as well as painted and printed illustrations of dramatic battle scenes, and victory banquets. To commemorate the 1755-1759 campaigns on the Western frontier, the Qianlong emperor selected Castiglione to lead the project, with Jin Tingbiao and Ai Qimeng (Ignaz Sichelbart) as the principal artists for the hundred portraits, with Ai Qimeng painting the faces in the falangcai (foreign color) palette.

After the first hundred paintings were created in the early 1760s, other series of hero portraits were commissioned by the Qianlong and later emperors. However, the rendering of the faces in the later portraits revert to a more traditional Chinese approach, and it is believed that European artists were not involved in the later paintings, although traces of their influence would continue to resonate.

Accompanying the Imperial Guard, several other lots dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) further explore the evolution of portraiture in Chinese painting. From a rare pair of Ming dynasty ancestor portraits of a Military officer and his wife, estimated at US$25,000 – 40,000, to a Portrait of Seated Manchu Confucian Scholar Leisurely Reading from the 17th/18th century, estimated at US$25,000 – 40,000, the paintings not only carefully capture the sitters' visage, but the rich tapestry of material culture and fineries of the day that surround them. Additionally, Portrait of a Distinguished Feline attributed to the Ming Dynasty master Qiu Ying (1494-1552), estimated at US$10,000 – 15,000, illustrates humanity's perpetual fondness for animal friends.

Additional highlights include:
 

Lot 849. Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), Lotus and Bird after Shitao (1642-1707) and Zhu Da (1626-1705), Hanging scroll, ink on paper, inscribed by the artist with a dedication to Chang Pe-chin (Zhang Bojin, 1897-1988) and signed Daqian di Yuan, the titleslip inscribed by Chang Pe-chin in the jiayin year (1974), 174 × 67cm. Estimate US$100,000 - US$150,000 (€92,000 - €140,000). Sold for US$127,500 © Bonhams 2025

Provenance: The Tien Yin Tang Collection, acquired directly from the artist

Note: One of the most prolific and renowned artists of the 20th century, Zhang Daqian drew his inspiration for this dynamic composition from two 17th century masters. Dedicated to Chang Pe-chin (Zhang Bojin, 1897-1988), the painting is one of several from the Tien Yin Tang collection on offer in this sale.

Lot 802. Yu Youren (1879-1964), Poem by Jiang Kui (ca. 1155-1221) in Running Script, Dedicated to Li Genyuan (1879-1965). Hanging scroll, ink on paper, inscribed and signed Yu Youren, with a dedication to Li Genyuan (1879-1965), with an artist's seal and a collector's seal of Li Genyuan, 251.5 x 123.2cm. Estimate US$80,000 - US$120,000 (€74,000 - €110,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2025

Provenance: Collection of Li Genyuan (1879-1965)

Note: One of the largest calligraphic compositions to come to market by this highly collectable 20th century calligrapher, it is one of several lots written by Yu Youren offered in this sale.

Indian and Himalayan Art
March 19

A 15th century gilt copper alloy figure of Mahachakra Vajrapani will lead an impressive group of statues and thangkas depicting deities and teachers of Tibetan Buddhism which will be offered in the Indian and Himalayan Art sale on March 19. This three-faced, six-armed depiction of Mahachakra Vajrapani embracing his consort gained prominence in 15th-century Central Tibet, a period marked by a heightened interest in more erotic and fierce representations of tantric deities. As the largest known sculptural example of its kind, it serves as a significant testament to the evolution of tantric Buddhism in Tibet. The figure is estimated at US$500,000 – 700,000.

Lot 308. A gilt copper alloy figure of Mahachakra Vajrapani, Central Tibet, 15th century, Himalayan Art Resources item no. 85067, 37.6 cm high. Estimate US$500,000 - US$700,000 (€460,000 - €640,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2025

Provenance: The Zimmerman Family Collection, since mid-1960s

Published: Marylin M. Rhie & Robert A.F. Thurman,  Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1996, p. 191, no. 56.
Robert E. Fisher, Art of Tibet, 1997, no. 35.
Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures of the Himalayas, Chicago, 2003, p. 126, no. 67.

Exhibited: Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet,
Newark Museum, New Jersey, 5 January – 1 March 1992;
Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 29 March – 24 May 1992;
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 21 June – 16 August 1992;
The Helen Clay Frick Foundation, Pittsburgh, 13 September – 8 November 1992;
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 28 February – 25 April, 1993;
Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, 22 May – 31 July 1993;
Tampa Museum of Art, Florida, 5 September – 31 October 1993;
National Gallery of Victoria, Sydney, February – April 1994;
Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, 1994;
Australian Museum, Sydney, April – June 1994;
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, July – September 1994;
Musée Cernuschi, Paris, February – May 1996.
Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet,
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, April 17 – August 18, 1991;
IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York City, 15 October – 28 December, 1991;
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 18 September – 13 December, 1992.

Note: The wrathful form of the bodhisattva Vajrapani stands in union with his consort, Mamaki, on an oblong lotus base, their feet trampling the Hindu gods Indra and Brahma. Her body presses against his, forming a single, indivisible entity, her arms woven into the space between his shoulders and three-faced head. They balance in an extended lunge, thigh to thigh as she wraps her left leg around his waist. Her pleated skirt sways, but their feet are grounded. He is ornamented with coiling snakes as earrings, armbands, bracelets, and anklets. Two snakes intertwine in a crossed corset around his torso, one slides around his waist, and another is fastened around his hair. Another serpent writhes from the grip of his teeth. His epithet 'Great Wheel Holder of the Thunderbolt' is indicated by his back raised arm which holds the girdle of a pointed vajra. His form exhibits a syncretic style characterized by Indic iconography, Yuan dynasty connections, and Nepalese artistic traditions.

Although a rare subject, this ferocious, multi-limbed, and eroticized snake-bearing form of Vajrapani occurs with predominance during the 15th century, primarily in Central Tibet. Wrathful deities and their consorts became central to the secret, multi-layered, and mystic practices of tantric Buddhism during this period. As the largest gilt sculptural examples of this deity, this Mahachakra Vajrapani commands great reverence amidst an increasingly depicted class of wrathful tantric deities.

Mahachakra Vajrapani appears predominantly in this iconographic format—three-faces, six-arms, and holding a consort—during the 15th century. Among the gilt-sculpture and painted examples of the period, most appear to emerge from Shigatse in Tibet. A contemporaneous wall painting from the top floor of the Gyantse Kumbum shows a ferocious Mahachakra Vajrapani wearing a five-lobed crown and posturing with his six hands positioned in mudras identical to those in this sculpture. He too clasps a snake in his fangs, crushing the tail beneath his feet (HAR 42944). Two Mahachakra Vajrapani paintings which include Sakya lineage masters illustrate similar iconography (HAR 21949 and 58322), as do two gilt-sculptures (Bonhams, Paris, 12 June 2023, lot 25 and Christie's, Paris, 16 December 2022, lot 173). Each wears ornamental coiling snakes, symbolizing Mahachakra Vajrapani's role as subduer of Nagas. His placement alongside other fierce meditational deities on the top floor of Gyantse Kumbum recognizes him among the highest class of tantric beings. Here, that position is reinforced by the scale of this commission.

The origins of these wrathful Esoteric Buddhist deities date to the late 6th century in India. Earlier examples of wrathful deities are depicted as subsidiary figures, in forms derivative from the non-Buddhist, pre-Vedic nature spirits called yakshas. Growing out of Mahayana practices, they were worshipped in a subordinate role, alongside a bodhisattva, to remove worldly adversities. A plump, round-faced yaksha appears as an attendant to the bodhisattva Vajrapani on a 7th/8th century sculpture from Nalanda (Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion, London, 1999, p. 36, fig. 15). This subsidiary position developed though into independent entities replete with their own particular iconographic characteristics in eastern India around the 8th century. A 10th century depiction of Vajrapani-Trailokyavijaya, also from Nalanda, depicts a wrathful figure with features comparable to this sculpture, with his lunging stance, four faces, eight arms, raised vajra, and trampling two Hindu gods beneath his feet (ibid, p. 197, fig. 160). 

The development of this class of Esoteric Buddhist deities in the culminating phase of Indian Buddhism in the late 11th/12th century, profoundly influenced their immigration into Tibet. As the wrathful deity's centrality matures, he is often accompanied in a locked sexual embrace by a female consort (called yab-yum, or "father-mother," in Tibetan), emphasizing a core yogic approach to supreme realization through sexual symbolism. The principle of union as a method of merging polarity — wisdom (female) and compassion (male) — was a tenet adopted from India into Tibet, which established a firmament of Esoteric Buddhist practice in the remote regions of the Himalayas during the Second Dissemination of Buddhism (late 10th-12th century). Beginning only in the 14th century, though, does Tibetan art demonstrate an expanding corpus of wrathful imagery shown in sexual union, emphasizing its increasing importance in tantric Buddhist practice. In addition to its scale, Mahachakra Vajrapani's sexual, wrathful, and destructive power are given exalted status with his flame-colored hair and third eye painted between two bulging pupils. He stares at a face mirroring his own intensity with his furrowed brow meeting an open-mouthed consort who entwines her body against his. Their implements of vajra, kapala, hooked knife (kartrika), and snake articulate a couple who wield great transformative power, even over the gods whom they trample.

While eastern Indian art may have established the iconographic inspiration for such potent images, the traditions between Nepal and China increasingly influenced the physiognomy, ornamentation, and decorative pattern in Tibetan art. In part, the 14th century set in motion a synthesis of styles in Tibet through innovations made at the Yuan court under the direction of the Nepalese artist Aniko (1244-1306). The close political ties between China and Tibet during the Yuan dynasty affected an influence of Chinese tastes, but so did a longstanding legacy in Tibet of employing craftsmen from the Kathmandu Valley for ever-expanding monastic complexes.

This Mahachakra Vajrapani bears the legacy of both these traditions. His towering orange hair correlates to an earlier 13th century Nepalese painting tradition in Tibet where a Mahakala wears similarly stylized curled-tipped tufts of hair. (Kossak & Singer, Sacred Visions, 1998, p. 146, no. 38). The lozenge-shaped armbands and bracelets of the consort, rippling sash over Vajrapani's shoulders, and styling of both crowns reference Nepalese traditions, indicated on a 14th century standing Maitreya (Bonhams, New York, 20 March 2018, lot 3205). The absence of inlaid gemstone jewelry reflects Yongle-period sculptural conventions as does the contouring of the garments which flow in pleats along the consort's waist and legs. The incised hem of her skirt draws inspiration from Chinese silk designs, which were exchanged as political gifts, particularly in Shigatse where Chinese court patrons supported regional building projects.

Despite the historical influences from India, Nepal, and China, this sculpture remains distinctly Tibetan in style and subject, marked by regional inventiveness. The mouth of the tiger's skin engulfing Mahachakra's leg is a witty detail discussed by David Weldon in reference to a wrathful figure of Bhurkumkuta (Bonhams, 19 March 2019, lot 947), and which he states is also present on murals at Gyantse (Weldon and Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp. 116, pl. 25). Contextually, the deity of large-scaled of the subduer of serpents, with its wrathful intensity and erotic energy, has a formidable presence. It holds the centrality of the transformative tantric Buddhist experience — for he is capable of terrifying both mundane and spiritual obstacles as a vehicle for achieving liberation.

Additional highlights include:

Lot 305. A portrait thangka of Sangye Yarjon (1203-1272), the third abbot of Taklung Monastery, Sangye Yarjon (Prajnaguru), Central Tibet, Taklung or Riwoche Monastery, circa 1236-1296. Distemper and gold on cloth, verso inscribed in Tibetan in black ink with a set of consecration mantras; the ye dharma verse; precept of patience; a salutation to the precious teacher Prajnaguru; and a faint outline of a stupa, Himalayan Art Resources item no. 2822, 66.5 by 47 cm. Estimate US$180,000 - US$220,000 (€170,000 - €200,000). Sold for US$229,100. © Bonhams 2025

Published: Jane Casey, Taklung Painting: A Study in Chronology, Vol. I, Chicago, 2023, p. 420, no. 57.

Provenance: The Kronos Collection since 1990

Note: The painting presents the elegant figure of Sangye Yarjon, Third Abbot of Taklung monastery in Central Tibet. The hierarch is seated on a lion throne, dressed in the robes of an ordained Tibetan monk. His head turns to the right shoulder, revealing a strong jawline. The face is idealized, with high cheek bones, aquiline nose, and wide eyes half-closed in contemplation. His hands turn in the teaching gesture, associated with moment the historical Buddha gave his first sermon at Deer Park. This gesture and his seat on the lion throne, indicate his community regarded him as an enlightened being, equal in spiritual stature to the historical Buddha. The great majority of the surviving paintings from the Taklung tradition are portraits of teachers. Paintings of Buddhist teachers were a way to maintain the presence of a teacher in his absence, be it temporary or enduring.

Among the finest examples of Taklung paintings, it is one of about a dozen paintings that survive from his tenure as abbot (1236-1272). Another from this corpus of his portraits sold at Bonhams, Paris, 4 October 2022, lot 101. Nephew of the previous abbot, Sangye Yarjon came to Taklung for training in 1221 at the age of eighteen. He spent his first two years there in meditative retreat. Even in youth, his spiritual presence was notable, prompting the epithet by which he came to be known: Sangye Yarjon, "one progressing this year to buddhahood" (da lo sangs rgyas yar la byon). [1] In 1236, when he was thirty-four, his uncle died and he became the incumbent abbot, responsible for the monastery of 5,000 monks.

Above and in the side registers of the central figure are a lineage of teachers, his immediate predecessors in the Taklung spiritual lineage. Beginning with celestial Buddha Vajradhara, the lineage includes the acclaimed Indian yogin Tilopa (fl. late 10th to early 11th century), his disciple Naropa (c. 956-c. 1040), his Tibetan disciple Marpa (1012-1096), and so on, including Milarepa, Gampopa, possibly Phagmodrupa, the First Taklung Abbot Tashipel (1142-1210). The right side register portrays Kadampa lineage figures. A lineage (or lineages) of teachers appears in the top, side, and, occasionally, the bottom registers of most Tibetan paintings. Essentially, they represent the celestial and historical figures who transmitted specific Buddhist teachings from one generation of practitioners to the next. The ancient tradition of paraṃparā, an unbroken lineage of spiritual teachers and disciples, was widespread in India. It continued into Tibetan Buddhist communities during the 12th and early 13th centuries. Taklung was one of many small Buddhist communities in Tibet at this time, each led by a charismatic leader. The early abbots established monasteries and harnessed resources to create and sustain their monastic communities. They adjudicated local disputes, dispensed food and material resources to the needy, and brokered power among the landed gentry. Above all, they mastered the practices necessary to achieve spiritual realization. Critically, they trained their disciples in the teachings and meditative techniques they inherited from their own teachers.

Spiritual attainment, above all, was the focus of Sangye Yarjon. As he said to his nephew and eventual successor, Mangalaguru, soon after the latter's arrival at Taklung Monastery in c. 1255, "...you, my nephew, should take barley to the value of five zho from my household, and starting from tomorrow, you should stay in retreat. The study that you have already undertaken in Kham is sufficient. This lineage of ours is a lineage of spiritual attainment. So spiritual attainment is very important. It was dependent on their perfection of spiritual attainment that the teachers who were our predecessors acted for the benefit of themselves and others. You should be diligent in your spiritual attainment!"[2]

Like other abbots of his day, Sangye Yarjon was also a deft politician. In 1240, the Mongols under Godan Khan invaded Central Tibet. They burned Reting Monastery, killed hundreds of monks and civilians, and looted villages. [3] "On one occasion when the large army of Hor Dumur arrived in Tibet, he [Sangye Yarjon] sent his venerable uncle (zhang btsun) bearing gifts to the place where the Hor [were encamped]. By resorting exclusively to prayer, Dumur's inimical thoughts were calmed and he became a disciple." [4] When the Mongols sought recommendations for Tibetan leaders with whom they could negotiate, the Taklung abbot (Sangye Yarjon), the Drigung abbot, and the Sakya abbots were named. Specifically, the Taklung abbot was described as the most sociable, Drigung the most affluent, and Sakya the most religious.7 Sakya Pandita was the chosen emissary and in 1244 he set out from Sakya for Godan Khan's encampment in the Kokonor. This began the powerful Yuan-Sakya alliance that would dominate Tibetan politics for the next century.

Endnotes: [1] The Taklung History, 271, Gyurme Dorje trans. Stag-lung Ngag-dbang-rnam-rgyal, Stag lung chos 'byung (Taklung Dharma History), formally Brgyud-pa Yid-bzhin Nor-bu'i Rtogs-pa Brjod-pa Ngo-mtshar Rgya-mtsho (Wondrous Ocean of Eloquence: Histories of the Taklung Kagyu Tradition), trans. Gyurme Dorje, (Lhasa: Bod-ljongs Bod-yig Dpe-rnying Dpe-skrun-khang [Tibetan Ancient Books Publishing House], December 1992).

[2] Taklung History, 305, Gyurme Dorje trans.; see also The Lhorong History, Tatsak Tsewang Gyal (rta tshag tshe dbang rgyal), Lho-rong Chos-'byung (The Lhorong History), (Lhasa: Bod-ljongs Bod-yig Dpe-rnying Dpe-skrun-khang, 1994), 546-547; and George N. Roerich, trans. and ed., The Blue Annals, from Go Lotsawa, deb ther sngon po (Calcutta, 1949-53; rev. Delhi, 1976, R 1979, 1988), 630.

[3] Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967 (New York: Potala Publications, 1984, reprint), 61.

[4] Taklung History, 276, Gyurme Dorje trans.

Bonhams would like to thank Jane Casey for her assistance with this entry.

Lot 310. A wood and gilt copper repousse sutra cover, 15th century; Himalayan Art Resources item no. 2828, 19 by 67.3 cm. Estimate US$100,000 – 150,000 (€92,000 H €140,000). Sold for US$165,600. © Bonhams 2025

Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London, July 1988

A Distinguished Private European Collection

Note: The vast majority of Tibetan book covers are made of wood. They are shaped in a large horizontal format, serving as a protective cover for Buddhist texts. Many are ornately carved and include a coating of gilding. Many portray Prajnaparamita, the personification of wisdom accompanied by buddhas, as seen here. Fewer extant examples feature hammered metal designs. Of these prized repousse covers, most date to an earlier period of Tibetan history (12th-14th centuries), when texts from eastern India were readily copied and transported to Tibet to shape a developing doctrinal Buddhist landscape. Tibetan manuscript covers and their texts show a historical relationship to eastern Indian texts in format and subject. Their highly ornate style bears Newari influences of metalworking techniques and painted manuscript pages. This gilded repousse manuscript belongs to a small group of remaining examples that show their early paradigms. It captures a quite literal example of the flourishing of Buddhist teachings during the Second Dissemination (late 10th-12th centuries) in Tibet.

Tibetan manuscript covers adhere to a format and adopt popular subjects from Pala period Buddhist predecessors. Eastern Indian manuscripts comprise of an elongated wooden cover and back enclosing palm leaf pages of illuminated texts. Although the Tibetans replaced palm leaves with paper for their translated sutras, they retained this elongated format, albeit with a dramatic increase in size. More, the Prajnaparamita Sutra was among the two most frequently illuminated text from eastern India produced between the 10th-13th centuries. This rectangular format featuring Prajnaparamita is visible on an 11th century manuscript page from Bihar (Pal and Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations, 1988, p. 52, pl. 4). The sutra's proliferation was tied to merit, with an increased benefit gained through the act of donation. The Bihar example corresponds with the period of Tibetan translations and transmission of texts, reinforcing Prajnaparamita's popularity on Tibetan books covers as well.

The origins of repousse book cover decoration link both the eastern Indian tradition and Newari manuscript making conventions. In effect, their legacies were so bound together, the former influencing the latter, that their overlapping trends show the increasing availability of inspiration for those itinerant Tibetan seekers of the Buddhist doctrine. An 11th/12th century wooden manuscript featuring applied gilt and repousse decorations atop a wood panel is understood to be a Tibetan commission made by eastern Indian artists (Kossak & Singer, Sacred Visions, 1998, p. 12, fig. 6). The figures and scrolling borders are illustrated in a Pala period style, though the size — nearly identical to this example — is indicative of other Tibetan book covers from the 11th-12th centuries. The similarity in size and repousse décor to this example suggests an active Tibetan culture that sought and commissioned objects from Buddhism's heartland in India.

Still though, the elaborate style and the use of a single sheet of metal covering the entire panel of wood shows stronger affiliations with Nepalese motifs. A 1207 repousse manuscript cover encasing a wooden panel which has been attributed to Nepal, shows a similarly brimming space of details and pronounced beaded border (Pal and Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations, 1988, p. 105, pl. 26). More, the accompanying painted manuscript page portrays a buddha on a cornice-framed throne similarly styled with makara projections, scrolling foliates, and a stepped-plinth, which appear on this example. The throne ornamentation, the kirtimukha apexes, decorative lion bases, and alternating lower projections of birds, ducks, monkeys, and kinnara of this example are all featured in painted Nepalese manuscript covers dated to 1028 (ibid, p. 112-113, fig. 37).

The closest comparison in size and style is dated to the 11th/12th century (Amy Heller, Tibetan Art, 1999, p. 63, no. 37). Like the present lot, it also frames five figures within niches surrounded by lavish scrolling embellishments and a pronounced beaded border. Three other repousse covers fall within a similar dimensional range (Sotheby's, New York, 23 March 2007, lot 7; Gunter Gronbold, Tibetische Buchdeckel, 1991, p. 84, no. 31; Gilles Beguin, Art sacre du Tibet, 2013, p. 128, no. 52). The first and third are dated to the 13th century. Gronbold assigns a later date, though he also compares that example to the 1207 cover in the Pal publication. It is likely that these repousse manuscripts, like much of Tibetan art of the period, were crafted by Newari artisans for Tibetan patrons. Newari craftsman were deft metal workers who produced tailored-sized sutras for Tibetan commissions, incorporating legacies of Indian prototypes and Newari decorative motifs.

Lot 309. A bon thangka of Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa, 15th century. Distemper and gold on cloth. Himalayan Art Resources item no. 73121, 94.6 by 76.2 cm. Estimate US$30,000 – US$50,000 (€28,000-€46,000). Sold for US$89,400. © Bonhams 2025

Published: Per Kvaerne, The Bon Images of Tibet: the Iconography of a Living Tradition, London, 1995, pp. 60-1, pl. 15. (illus. front cover)

Provenance: The Kronos Collection since c.1985

Note: The central figure of this thangka is the Bon deity, Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa ("the All-Good, Assembly of Conquerors"). He wears elaborate crowns highlighting his five heads, bejeweled ornaments, and holds a sun and moon disk in his primary hands of his ten arms. His multi-limbed and multi-armed form display presents a composite representation portraying a consummate image of all the Bon deities as one. The image closely follows a textual description composed by the great scholar Sherap Gyaltsen (1356-1415), who describes the deity with a body that "shines like fire-crystal" surrounded by his consorts Tugje Chamma and Namkai Lhamo, the Goddesses of the four seasons, and hosts of protecting spirits (P. Kvaaerne,  The Bon Images of Tibet, 1996, p. 30). Among them is Machen Pomra, shown riding atop a snow lion.

Although Buddhism became the dominant religion in Tibet, an indigenous religious tradition, Bon, was introduced in the 10th and 11th centuries. The origins of Bon are complex and vary greatly across literary and oral sources, especially in relation to Tibetan Buddhism. Both Tibetan Buddhism and Bon overlap in doctrine and practice, evident here in the iconographic arrangement of the multi-limbed central deity enlarged on an animal ornamented throne, heruka consort deities, and surrounding lineage of lamas. While many principles are similar, they are represented often by their own characteristic symbols. For example, the core understanding that reality is of an unchanging nature corresponds to both Bon and Tibetan Buddhism, though it is represented symbolically in the former tradition by the counter-clockwise svastika, held in the deity's upper hand. The animals of dragon, elephant, lion, horse, and curved- beaked garuda along the base of the throne, show distinctive Bon iconography, as does the multi-animal headed Walse Ngampa with faces of makaras, tigers, and lion in the upper register.

Few Bon paintings from this 15th century period are known. One depicting Kuntu Zangpo, dated to the 15th century (Sotheby's, Paris, 15 December 2022, lot 17), shows a similar gridded composition. Another set of Bon deity paintings, from the 16th century, illustrates a fine level of detail (ibid, pl. 4, p. 42; pl. 5, p. 44; pl.8, p. 48). However, none of these examples show a refined level of artistry exhibited in the wide-faced, soft-lipped, and epicanthic folded eyes of the faces. The gesso-layered ornamentation set along the crown and jewelry of the central figure heightens the enchanting decoration, an effect which also appears on a Vairocana thangka from the 14th/15th century (Bonhams, Hong Kong, 30 November 2022, lot 1024). The flanking figures in this Bon thangka wear crossed body sashes similar to those seen on the surrounding bodhisattvas of the Vairocana thangka.

Fine Japanese and Korean Art
March 20

Closing out the week, the Fine Japanese and Korean Art sale will offer a range of works from rare pottery to a fine selection woodblock prints as well as a group of outstanding inrō (medicine case) from the collection of Alan and Simone Hartman. The sale also features works from the modern era with a fine assortment of contemporary ceramics by forerunners in the field such as Kakurezaki Ryuichi (b. 1950) and Kato Yasukage (1964-2012). The top lot in the sale is a large Joseon-dynasty white porcelain jar painted with landscape roundels in cobalt blue, estimated at US$200,000 – 300,000.

Lot 796. A large and fine porcelain jar, Joseon dynasty (1392-1897), 18th/19th century. With a wood storage box, 41.6cm high. Estimate US$200,000 - US$300,000 (€190,000 - €280,000). Unsold. © Bonhams

Of elegant baluster form with a tall straight neck painted in underglaze cobalt with two roundels of landscapes with birds in flight, punctuated by large sprays of peony, the rim and foot painted with narrow bands, covered in a clear glaze pooling at the foot with a blueish tinge.

Note: White porcelain with underglaze cobalt decoration was first produced in Korea in the fifteenth century, inspired by examples imported from China. Though iron-decorated wares enjoyed a period of popularity in the 16th and early 17th centuries, underglaze cobalt soon became the dominant tradition that would continue well into the modern era. One unique feature in Korean blue and white decoration is the predominance of empty space versus excessive detail. Often design motifs are contained within individual roundels, and many large vessels such as this jar, lack borders or decorative bands around the shoulders and feet.

Large storage jars like this were used in floral displays at important rituals such as banquets and weddings. Many were decorated with mythical animals, dragons, tigers, or auspicious Chinese characters (see lot 800), and more rarely landscapes.

Additional highlights include:

 

Lot 691. A solid gold tea pot, Taisho (1912-1926) or Showa (1926-1989) era, circa 1926. 13cm high; 19.4cm high, including handle; 728.3grams. Estimate US$50,000 - US$70,000 (€46,000 - €64,000). Sold for US$64,000. © Bonhams

The globular body with a stepped rim, a short spout, and a loop handle, the surface hammered to a rough finish, the domed lid surmounted by a bead finial, marked Junkin (Pure gold) on the underside.

Gold testing indicates the purity to be 24k.

Provenance: Saegusa Hikoo (1890-1948), and thence by descent to the family

Note: Family recollections tell how around 1926, young Hikoo and his cousin came upon a large bag of gold koban (oval gold coins minted by the Tokugawa government) while playing in one of the storehouses on the Saegusa family property which housed their silk textile business in Yamanashi Prefecture. The boys presented the koban to their fathers for safe keeping and eventually it was decided that the coins would be melted down and cast into two teapots: one for each of the boys' families.

At the outbreak of World War II, when Japanese citizens were asked to donate metal for the war effort, Saegusa did his civic duty and surrendered his teapot, as well as other objects, to the authorities. Happily, at the close of the war, the teapot was returned intact to the family. They were told that the pot was considered too precious to be melted down for the war effort.

Lot 584. Charles Bartlett (1860-1940), Taisho era (1912-1926), circa 1921, An ōban yoko-e print titled Surf Riders, Honolulu, sealed CWB and signed in red pencil in the lower margin Charles W. Bartlett, published by Watanabe Shōzaburō, 27.6 x 38.7cm. Estimate US$10,000 - US$15,000 (€9,200 - €14,000). Sold for US$28,160. © Bonhams

Lot 720. Magoroku Kanemoto (flourished circa 1504-1528), A Jūyō-Ranked Mino Katana, Muromachi period (1333-1573), early 16th century. Estimate US$50,000 - US$70,000 (€46,000 - €65,000). Unsold. © Bonhams

 

Lot 643. Anonymous (18th century), Birds on a Snowy Willow Tree, Edo period (1615-1868), 18th century. A six-panel screen brushed in ink, colors, gofun (calcified crushed oyster-shell gesso), and gold leaf on paper with various birds perched in a snow-covered willow tree by a stream, 165.2 x 362.6cm. Estimate US$20,000 - US$30,000 (€18,000 - €28,000). Unsold. © Bonhams
 

Running concurrently during Asia Week, the department will offer additional works online with the Arts of the Samurai sale, a wide array of impressively crafted katana, single-edged swords once carried by Japanese warriors.