The Evans Collection. 

The Canterbury Auction Galleries are pleased to announce that we will be working in association with Alastair Gibson MRICS of Gibson Antiques Ltd (former Sotheby’s Director and Head of the New Bond Street Chinese and Japanese departments).

Tony Evans developed his interest in Chinese porcelain when at an early age he lived in China with his family. His father was an accountant for the Kailan Mining Administration, based in the port of Tientsin (modern day Tianjin), near Beijing, where he lived and worked from 1925-39. The company was an Anglo/Chinese organisation which was set up in 1912 and by 1922 employed over 40,000 miners involved predominantly in coal mining. The family returned to England before the outbreak of WWII, however his father remained behind and was interned by the Japanese for the duration of the war. Only returning to England in 1947. 

The young Tony Evans, educated at The King’s School, Canterbury, trained originally as a Veterinary Surgeon, but did not take up the profession, deciding after his National Service to work in London. During the 1960’s he set up a successful chain of hardware stores in the boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, London which provided him with the means to begin his collection of Chinese porcelain. 

He had originally inherited from his father a modest blue and white Kangxi period lotus dish (which he has chosen to keep for sentimental reasons), but his first purchase was from the legendary Marchant family dynasty of Chinese porcelain dealers, where he bought at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair, 1960, a Yongzheng mark and period underglaze-copper red `bats’ bowl, for the sum of £50! 

The collection was then developed over the next two decades, including further purchases from S.Marchant & Son Ltd; John Sparks Ltd; Hugh Moss Ltd; Phillips & Harris and Sydney L. Moss Ltd, which today provide the collector of Chinese porcelain in the 21st century `blue chip’ provenances in a world where an items pedigree is a significant comfort and value factor. He branched out from Chinese porcelain into antique maps and engravings, specialising in scenes of Canterbury and his native East Kent. This passion for collecting was shared with his wife Anne, whom he married in 1952 and on their retirement they moved back to Kent, where a medieval Wealden hall house near Charing was to become their home. 

Anne and Tony’s impending Diamond wedding anniversary and the current fashion for downsizing has prompted the sale of the majority of the collection which they hope will give new collectors an opportunity to acquire some classic examples of Chinese Ming and Qing porcelains and works of art not seen on the market for some 42 years!

Good Chinese Jade bamboo shaped spill vase. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). 

The jade of pale celadon tone with brown inclusions carved with Phoenix and Peony (applied paper label to base) and with carved wood stand for same. 4ins (102mm) high. Lot 39: Estimate: £8000-£12000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1974)
Evans’ Inventory No. 216.

“Mogul” style celadon jade “Pilg rim’s Flask”. Qing Dynasty (18th/19th Century). 

The vase carved with stylised flowers and with lotus pattern base. 5ins (127mm) high. Lot 37: Estimate: £6000-£8000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1962)
Evans’ Inventory No. 211.

 Good Chinese Dehua porcelain “Blanc de Chine” Figure of Guanyin. Qing Dynasty (early 18th Century). 

7.5ins (191mm) high. Lot 54: Estimate: £2000-£3000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1965)
Evans’ Inventory No. 422.

Chinese porcelain “Sang de Boeuf” glazed water pot. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong seal mark and of period (1736-1795). 

3.5ins (89mm) diameter. Lot 70: Estimate: £3000-£5000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son
Ltd (bought 1970)
Evans’ Inventory No. 435.

Chinese porcelain “Ge” type trefoil shaped water pot. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795)

2.5ins (63mm) diameter. Lot 53: Estimate: £800-£1200

Provenance: John Sparks Ltd (bought 1970)
Evans’ Inventory No. 442.

Rare Chinese Imperial porcelain Doucai stem bowl. Yongzheng mark and of period (1723-1735). 

The bowl decorated to exterior with“ba jixiang”- the eight Buddhist emblems, the interior with chrysanthemum medallion incorporating a “shou” character, the base with six character mark inscribed horizontally around the inside hollow foot. 6.25ins (158mm) diameter x 4ins (101mm) high (hairline crack to rim). Lot 75: Estimate: £4000-£6000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1962)
Evans’ Inventory No. 403.

Note: It is rare to find a stem cup painted in the doucai colour scheme. A similar example was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong 14th November 1989, lot 220.

The N.C. Harrison “Chicken” Cup. Fine and rare Chinese porcelain Doucai chicken cup. Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng period (1723-1735)

In Chenghua style, of deep U shape finely painted with cockerel, hen and five chicks among flowering plants, the reverse with gnarled and pierced rocky  outcrop issuing cockscomb plants, all within finely pencilled under-glazed blue outlines, coloured in soft palette of iron red, shades of green and yellow within double-line borders, the base with six character Chenghua mark enclosed within a double square. 3.625ins (90mm) diameter x 2.375ins (60mm) high. Lot 77:  Estimate: £20,000-£30,000

Provenance: The N.C. Harrison Collection,
Sold at Sotheby’s New Bond Street, London, 16th May 1967 - Lot 153.
Purchased by J. Harris Phillips & Harris 23rd February 1970 - invoice available.

Literature: Later Chinese Porcelain, Soames Jenys, Faber & Faber, London 1951, pl.CX Fig. 3(B).

Note: The “Chicken Cup” design is a classic associated with Imperial porcelains. Originally conceived during the Ming Dynasty, under the reign of the Chenghua Emperor (1465-1487) its popularity was revived during the early Qing Dynasty, particularly during the reigns of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors, who particularly revered the Chenghua prototypes.

The Chicken (gongji) and Cockscomb plant (jigusanhua) combined together is a pun for “May you continuously rise in rank” (guanshang jiaguan). The second character (guan ) in the name of the flower is a pun for “official” (guan). The cockerel also bears a cockscomb yet another pun for “official”.

The present example is related to the “Bernat” chicken cup in terms of its similar decoration and U-shape form which differs from the Chengua originals which have flared sides and no prominent foot rim. See Christies Hong Kong, The Imperial Sale, 30th May 2006, lot 1241, from the Paul and Helen Bernat Collection, previously sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 15th November 1988, lot 4; where the present example is cited as a reference.

Rare Chinese Imperial porcelain Wucai “Pheasant” bowl. Kangxi six character mark and of the period (1662-1722). 

6ins (153mm) diameter x 3.125ins (78mm) high. Lot 73: Estimate: £8000-£12,000

Note: It is rare to find a Kangxi bowl of this design incorporating underglaze-blue and copper-red within the wucai palette. A very similar bowl of Kangxi mark and period from the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Geng Baochag, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi (Porcelains from the Qing Dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum Collection) Beijing, 2005, vol. I, part I, pl .29. 

A similar pair of wucai bowls, Yongzheng marks and of the period were sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27th October 1972, lot 128.

Pair of Chinese Imperial porcelain blue and yello w “Dragon ” bowls. Qianlong seal mark and of the period (1736-1795). 

Each decorated with two five-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls, the interiors with central dragon medallion..Each 4ins (102mm) diameter x 2ins (51mm) high. Lot 72: Estimate: £15,000 - £20,000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1965)
Evans’ Inventory No. 425.

Note: A similar bowl was sold at Christie’s King Street, London, auction 17th June 2003, lot 40. 

Pair of Chinese Imperial porcelain yello w and green glazed fluted “Dragon ” dishes. Qianlong seal mark and of period (1736-1795). 

Both finely incised and decorated with“Five Clawed” dragons chasing flaming pearls, the undersides similarly decorated. Each 5.25ins (133mm) diameter. Lot 74: Estimate: £20,000-£30,000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1962)
Evans’ Inventory No. 424.

Note: A similar pair of saucer dishes were sold at Bonham’s, New Bond Street, London,“The Inder Rieden Collection of Fine Chinese Porcelain”, 10th November 2011, lot 81.

Good Chinese ca rved ivo ry “Battle Scene” panel. Qing Dynasty (late 19th Century). 

With hardwood and silver inlaid stand. 4.75ins x 12ins (121mm x 305mm) overall.. Lot 3: Estimate: £2000-£3000

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son Ltd (bought 1966).

Chinese ‘Jun’ Type porcelain lavender glazed hexagonal lo bed dish. Yuan-Ming Dynasty. 

5.5ins (140mm) diameter. Lot 61: Estimate: £300-£500

Tony Pratt. Managing Director. The Canterbury Auction Galleries. Canterbury (01227) 763337 - tony@tcag.co.uk

Alastair Gibson MRICS. Gibson Antiques. 07831 645468 - alastair@gibsonantiques.com