NEW YORK, NY.- Asian Art Week returns to New York, bringing together exceptional museum and private collections that celebrate the enduring appeal of Chinese Works of Art over two live auctions and an online sale. Taken together, these auctions offer a singular opportunity for collectors, with hundreds of lots featuring works of great rarity, quality, and exceptional provenance.

Important Chinese Art Including Ceramics from the Art Institute of Chicago

For more than a century, an exceptional collection of Chinese ceramics have remained in the care of The Art Institute of Chicago, their histories preserved through the vision and generosity of some of the most distinguished American collectors and philanthropists. Many works entered the museum in the early 20th century as landmark gifts and bequests from renowned patrons including Russell Tyson, Henry C. Schwab, Kate Sturges Buckingham and Stanley Herzman, whose collections helped shape one of the world's foremost holdings of Asian art. Today's connoisseurs will now have the opportunity to acquire works from this golden age of collecting including imperial porcelains of impeccable rarity, beauty and provenance. Offered under the title, “Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care,” these works include a Yongzheng famille rose 'peach and bat' bowl; a finely enameled Qianlong famille rose bottle vase; an exquisite coral-ground falangcai bowl, alongside celebrated peachbloom wares and rare Ming blue-and-white porcelains. The Arts of Asia Online will also have more than 110 lots from the Art Institute of Chicago collection offered with no reserve.

Lot 1034. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A magnificent and very rare famille rose 'bats and peaches' bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 14.3 cm diam. Estimate USD 400,000 – USD 600,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: C. T. Loo (1880-1957), Paris.
Russell Tyson (1867-1963) Collection, Chicago.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned in 1939.

Note: The painting on the present bowl demonstrates a masterful command of color contrast and textural variation, achieved through sophisticated technical execution. The peaches, depicted as fully ripened and heavy on the branch, exhibit a remarkably lifelike plumpness. This effect was achieved by blowing enamels onto the glazed surface, combined with delicate brushwork that creates subtle shading from pale green to rose-pink for the skin. The blossoms, painted with extreme delicacy, convey a sense of fragile beauty and provide a counterpoint to the solidity of the fruit, particularly as they appear to flutter in an implied breeze. The bats are rendered with dynamic energy, captured mid-flight in playful interaction.

The composition of six peaches and five bats is carefully arranged from the foot up the sides and extends over the rim into the interior of the bowl. This ambitious design, in which a flowering branch appears to continue from the exterior of a vessel into its interior, is known as guozhihua (flowering branch passing over the rim) or guoqiangzhi (branch passing over the wall). First emerging in the late Ming dynasty, this decorative scheme gained prominence during the Qing and appears to have found particular favor at court. The Yongzheng reign saw the pinnacle of guozhihua decoration on enameled porcelains, both in terms of painterly excellence and imperial appreciation. Owing to the complexity of the scheme, guozhihua was more commonly employed on dishes, where the broader, more accessible surfaces facilitated execution. For a Yongzheng dish decorated with similar guozhihua design of peaches and bats, see an example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, collection no: gu00150245. Bowls, particularly those of small size, presented considerably greater difficulty due to their restricted and curved working spaces, demanding artists of exceptional skill. The painter of the present bowl undertook the additional challenge of rendering a further pair of fully developed peaches on the interior. Given the variety of techniques employed and the complexity of the design, the successful execution of such a refined composition within the confined space of this relatively small and delicate bowl is remarkable.

Numerous aspects of the design on the current bowl carry auspicious significance, suggesting the bowl may have been created to celebrate an imperial birthday. The term guoqiangzhi (branch passing over the wall) is a homophone for guo chang zhi (long peace under good government), offering both a compliment to the emperor and a wish for a protracted reign. The peach tree has long been regarded as sacred in China; peach wood was used to craft protective charms. The peach itself symbolizes longevity. The presence of six peaches (liu) forms a rebus for retaining or prolonging longevity. Peaches are also closely associated with the Daoist star god of longevity, Shou Lao, and with the legendary peaches of immortality in the orchard of Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West. Peach blossoms, in turn, symbolize spring and renewal. The five red bats constitute one of the most pervasive themes in Chinese decorative arts. The red bat (hong fu) provides a rebus for good fortune, while five bats represent the Five Blessings (wu fu): longevity, health, wealth, love of virtue, and a peaceful death. Bats rendered upside down offer an additional rebus: the word for upside down (dao) is a homophone for "arrived," thus conveying the message that "happiness has arrived." The present bowl, with its exceptional quality and layered auspicious imagery, would have been ideally suited as a birthday commission for the Yongzheng emperor, whose reign is widely regarded as having produced some of the finest enameled porcelains in China's long ceramic history.

A closely related bowl was sold in The Ai Lian Tang Collection – 800 Years of Chinese Ceramics; Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 April 2026, lot 816. Another Yongzheng bowl similarly decorated as the current bowl is in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and is illustrated by T. T. Bartholomew in Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 204, no. 7.44.1. A further pair of bowls is published in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics IV, Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 155, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 April 1999, lot 539. A similar bowl was in the Eisei Bunko collection and then the Meiyintang Collection is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. II, London, 1994, pl. 960; later sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 16. A Yongzheng bowl of the same size, formerly in the collections of Edward Chow and then Alan Chuang, with a similar design yet with no peaches on the interior, only blossoming branches and bats, was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2020, lot 3622.

Lot 1034. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A very rare famille rose and underglaze blue-decorated 'chilong and floral scroll' vase, Qianlong seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 33.6 cm.) high. Estimate USD 400,000 – USD 600,000
 

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York (according to label).
Henry C. Schwab (1867-1941) Collection, Chicago.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned in 1941.

Note: 'Blessings, Longevity, and Great Accomplishments', by Rosemary Scott, Independent Scholar https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6598439?ldp_breadcrumb=back#lot-essay

Lot 1038. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A rare coral-ground falangcai 'floral' bowl, Yongzheng four-character yuzhi mark in underglaze blue within a double square and of the period (1723-1735). 11.7 cm diam. Estimate USD 150,000 – USD 250,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York (according to label).
Henry C. Schwab (1867-1941) Collection, Chicago.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned in 1941.

Note: The current bowl is a rare example of a well-known group of bowls decorated with colorful flowers on a coral-ground which were made in the early Yongzheng reign. The design, composition and palette are based on Kangxi-period prototypes, such as an example bearing a Kangxi yuzhi mark in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, no.95 and by H. Moss in By Imperial Command: An Introduction to Ch'ing Imperial Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, p. 82, where Moss suggests that bowls of this type were most probably made at Jingdezhen within the first two years of the Yongzheng reign, when potters were not yet familiar with the famille rose palette which only emerged during the late Kangxi period based on falangcai enamels used within the palace workshops in Beijing.

A smaller Yongzheng-marked bowl of this design (11 cm. diam.) is illustrated in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics IV: Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995 pl. 159. Other examples include a slightly larger bowl (14.8 cm. diam.) from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3 April 2012, lot 49, and one from the Au Bak Ling Collection sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 October 2025, lot 951.

Lot 1019. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A peachbloom-glazed water pot, taibai zun, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722); 13 cm diam. Estimate USD 70,000 – USD 100,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026
 

Provenance: Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858-1937) Collection, Chicago, before 1926.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned as the Collection of Lucy Maud Buckingham (1870-1920) in 1926.

Note: Water pots of this form are known as taibai zun, after the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai, who is often depicted leaning against a large wine jar of similar form. They are also known as jizhao zun because their shape resembles chicken coops that are woven with small openings at the top through which the chicks are fed.

A Kangxi peachbloom-glazed water pot, also with a rich raspberry-toned glaze, formerly in the collections of Emily Trevor and John B. Trevor, Jr., was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 May 2014, lot 3301. Another example from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was sold at Christie's New York, 15 September 2016, lot 915.

Lot 1020. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A peachbloom-glazed 'Three-string' vase, laifu zun, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722); 19.5 cm.) high, gilt-silver stand stamped 'TIFFANY & CO MAKERS, STERLING SILVER 925-1000C.' Estimate USD 100,000 – USD 150,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026
 

The rim is bound in gold and stamped 'TIFFANY & CO. MAKERS 18KT.'

Provenance: Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858-1937) Collection, Chicago, before 1926.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned as the Collection of Lucy Maud Buckingham (1870-1920) in 1926.
 

Note: This elegant form is sometimes referred to as sanxuan zun, or “three-string vase,” a name derived from the three raised bands encircling the neck, which evoke the strings of Chinese musical instruments. It is also known as laifu zun, or “turnip-shaped vase,” following the Chinese tradition of naming certain porcelain forms after fruits and vegetables.

Similar examples of this form are recorded in important museum and private collections. One in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated by S. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, no. 231, and again in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Tokyo, 1983, vol. 15, pp. 34-35, fig. 27. An example in the Freer Gallery of Art is illustrated by R. M. Chait, “The Eight Prescribed Peachbloom Shapes Bearing the K’ang Hsi Marks,” Oriental Art, 1957, vol. 3, no. 4, p. 132. Another, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 137, col. pl. 120. A further example was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition, Monochrome Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1977, no. 10.

The current vase can also be compared to an example formerly in the collection of Mrs. Yale Kneeland, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 7 July 2003, lot 564, and one from the celebrated set of eight peachbloom-glazed vessels in the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 November 1996, lot 557. Another, formerly in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was sold at Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Christie's New York, 15 September 2016, lot 916.

Lot 1009. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A blue and white 'fruit and flower' foliate conical bowl, Xuande six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1426-1435); 22.5 cm diam. Estimate USD 60,000 – USD 80,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026
 

Provenance: Stanley Herzman (1906-2001) Collection, Chicago.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned in 1997.
 

Literature: S. Little, The Herzman Collection, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 50.
 

Exhibited: On loan: Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum, 2001-2004.
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chinese Ceramics and Lacquers: The Stanley Herzman Collection, May-September 1997.
 

Note: The porcelains of the Xuande period have always been especially admired by Chinese connoisseurs, to the extent that three hundred years later, when the Qianlong Emperor wished to compliment contemporary porcelains, he compared them to the porcelains of the Xuande and Chenghua (1465-1487) reigns. The Xuande Emperor was a very enthusiastic patron of porcelain production, and the potters working at the imperial kilns were required to make an astonishingly wide range of vessel shapes. Amongst the varied bowl forms of the period, the graceful conical shape of this finely potted bowl is one of the most elegant.

Similar examples from important public and private collections have been published, including one in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 159, no. 151; two in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, one illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hsuan-te Period Porcelain, Taipei, 1980, pl. 36, the other in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 178-179, pl. 62. One from the Percival David Foundation, now housed at the British Museum, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 88 and one in the Freer Gallery of Art (now part of the National Museum of Asian Art), Washington, D.C., is included in ibid., vol. 9, pl. 102. Others include one in the Shanghai Museum of Art, illustrated by Lu Minghua in Mingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2007, fig. 3-34; one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics, A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, fig. 403; and one published in the Asia Society Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York, 1982, pl. 73.

Bowls with this pattern sold recently at auction include one in the sale Imperial Connoisseurship Treasures of Chinese Art from A Prestigious Collection; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 21 November 2025, lot 803, and another sold at Christie’s Paris, 11 December 2024, lot 53. A very similar bowl from The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art was sold at The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 6 April 2016, lot 20.

Lot 1010. Property from The Art Institute of Chicago, Sold to Enhance the Asian Art Collection and Care. A large blue and white 'floral scroll' dish, Yongle period (1403-1424); 40.3 cm diam. Estimate USD 60,000 – USD 80,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026
 

Provenance: Stanley Herzman (1906-2001) Collection, Chicago.
The Art Institute of Chicago, accessioned in 1997.
 

Literature: S. G. Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1992, p. 67, cat. 61.
S. Little, The Herzman Collection, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 52.
 

Exhibited: Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chinese Ceramics and Lacquers: The Stanley Herzman Collection, May-September 1997.
 

Note: Large, finely potted dishes of this type were especially esteemed in India and the Middle East, a preference reflected in the many surviving examples preserved in collections in Istanbul and Tehran, as well as by the numerous ceramic copies made in their wake. For related examples displaying the range of decorative designs found on these dishes, see R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. 2, London, 1985, pp. 512–514, nos. 599–607, and J. A. Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 34, no. 29:88, which illustrates a dish comparable in size and decoration to the present example.

Dishes of this type were also highly valued in China from an early date. An example of the same design was excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in 1994 and later included in the Chang Foundation exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996, p. 153, no. 44. Other closely related dishes are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, pl. 37; the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation Collection, exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in Ming and Ch’ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, 1978, no. 5; the Baur Collection, Geneva, published by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, vol. II, 1969, no. A140; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition An Exhibition of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, 1949, p. 36, no. 38 (lent by C. T. Loo). Auction records for comparable Yongle dishes include examples from the Henry M. Knight Collection sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 4 June 2019, lot 27; Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2012, lot 2152; and Christie’s New York, 25 March 2022, lot 1044.

The Important Chinese Art Including Ceramics from the Art Institute of Chicago auction will also include classical Chinese furniture and scholar's objects from the Shanruoshui Xuan Collection; rare robes from the Collection of Jon Eric Riis; early Chinese works of art from the Max N. Berry Collection; snuff bottles from the J & J Collection; and Kangxi famille verte treasures formerly in the collection of William J. Ruane.

Ritual, Cosmos, and Imperial Splendor: Important Chinese Art from a Private North American Collection

Christie's has organized these works from a distinguished American collection to illustrate three commanding themes in Chinese art. In Ritual, we explore works associated with some of the earliest ceremonial practices in China, including a late Shang dynasty bronze you. Cosmos turns to works that reflect humanity's relationship with the divine and the unseen forces believed to govern the universe, specifically showcasing the development and cross-pollination of Buddhism and Daoism in Chinese history, exemplified by a Xuande mark-and-period Vajrapani created in the imperial workshops for court use. Imperial Splendor highlights the extraordinary artistic achievements of the imperial workshops. A Qianlong mark-and-period underglaze-blue and copper-red vase decorated with three playful Buddhist lions and produced under the supervision of Tang Ying (1682-1756), the celebrated superintendent of the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, exemplifies the exceptional quality, elegant proportions, and technical mastery of imperial ceramic production.

Lot 802. A finely cast bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, You, Late Shang-Early Western Zhou Dynasty, 12th-11th century BC; 25 cm high, cloth box. Estimate USD 70,000 – USD 100,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026
 

Provenance: Property of a Private Gentleman; Sotheby's New York, 21-22 September 2005, lot 147.
 

Note: The you 卣 is a ritual bronze wine vessel used in ancient China, primarily during the Shang and Western Zhou periods. Its function is attested to in early texts, including the Shijing 詩經, where the line “I confer on you a jade gui-ladle and one you vessel of juchang aromatic wine” identifies the you vessel as a container for the fragrant ritual wine known as juchang. In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, vessels of this type were used by the aristocracy in ritual banquets, ancestral offerings, and other ceremonial functions.

The elaborate decoration of the present you is closely related to that of a larger example, 40 cm. high, found in 1974 at Mianling, Wuming, Guangxi province 廣西省武鳴勉嶺, and now in the Museum of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Guangxi vessel is illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji (The Complete Collection of Chinese Bronzes), vol. 4, Beijing, 1998, pls. 165–167, where it is dated to the late Shang dynasty. Both vessels are distinguished by the powerful treatment of the main animal-mask motif: the eyes are rendered as boldly protruding bosses, while the horns rise upward in an animated manner. Above the horns, the surrounding fields are further filled with sinuous snake-like motifs, creating a densely decorated surface. The bovine heads cast at the ends of the swing handle are similarly forceful, their projecting forms enhancing the dramatic sculptural presence of the vessel.

The discovery of such an elaborately cast Shang bronze vessel in Guangxi is of historical significance. Long before the Qin and Han dynasties formally incorporated Lingnan 嶺南 into the imperial administrative system through the establishment of Nanhai, Xiang, and Guilin commanderies, the region was already connected with the ritual and material culture of the Central Plains. The presence of a late Shang bronze you in Guangxi thus suggests that the ancestors of the Xi’ou and Luoyue peoples of the Lingnan region had entered into important cultural interaction with the Shang world.

It is particularly noteworthy that the cover of the Guangxi you bears a clan sign reading tian 天. A bronze jue, also dated to the late Shang dynasty and bearing a comparable tian graph, was found from Tomb M692 in the western sector of Yinxu, Anyang, Henan province; see Kaogu xuebao, 1979, no. 1, p. 83, fig. 60.4. The shared clan sign raises important questions about the movement of bronzes, people, and rituals between the Shang center and the far south. The Guangxi tian you may have reached Lingnan through warfare, seizure, royal bestowal, diplomatic exchange, or trade. Regardless of the precise reason, the vessel provides strong evidence for the circulation of Central Plains bronze culture into southern China and the exchange between Shang elites and the communities of Lingnan. Whether the present you formed part of this same historical network remains a further scholarly investigation. However its closely similar style to the Guangxi example invites the discussion of late Shang bronze traditions extending into the cultural landscape of ancient southern China.

Lot 821. A rare and magnificent gilt-bronze figure of Vajrapani, Xuande six-character nianshi mark incised in a line and of the period (1426-1435); 25.7cm high, cloth box. Estimate USD 300,000 – USD 500,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026
 

Provenance: Chang Foundation Collection, Taipei, by 1993.
 

Literature: Chang Foundation, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, pp. 144-5, no. 65.
Chang Foundation, Treasures from the Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, p. 54. no. 24.
Chang Foundation, Chinese Treasures from the Chang Foundation, Tokyo, 2001, p. 82, no. 92.
 

Exhibited: Taipei, Chang Foundation, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, 1993, no. 65.
New York, Taipei Gallery, Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, 21 January-11 March 1994, no. 65.
Beijing, National Museum of Chinese History, Treasures from the Chang Foundation, 1996, no. 24.
Tokyo, Shoto Museum of Art; Obihiro, Hokkaidoritsu Obihiro Art Museum; Shimonoseki, Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Chinese Treasures from the Chang Foundation, May-October 2001, no. 92.
 

Note: 'A rare and magnificent gilt-bronze figure of Vajrapani', by Robert D. Mowry 毛瑞 & Alan J. Dworsky, Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus, Harvard Art Museums, and Senior Consultant, Christie’s https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6598070?ldp_breadcrumb=back#lot-essay

Lot 854. A very rare underglaze blue and copper-red-decorated 'Buddhist Lions' 'garlic mouth' vase, Qianlong seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 26 cm high, hardwood stand, cloth box (Endangered/protected species). Estimate USD 500,000 – USD 800,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20 May 1986, lot 80 (part).
Peter Lai Antiques, Hong Kong (according to label).
 

Note: 'Playful Imperial Lions', by Rosemary Scott, Independent Scholar https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6598103?ldp_breadcrumb=back#lot-essay