© Bonhams.

LONDON - Masterpieces from the collection of French businessman and philanthropist, Jean-Yves Ollivier, will be offered in The Ollivier Collection of Early Chinese Art: A Journey Through Time sale at Bonhams in London on Thursday 8 November. The sale has a combined upper estimate of £4m. 

 Highlights of the collection include magnificent and rare Chinese archaic bronze vessels from the Western Zhou dynasty (1047-772 BC), a sancai-glazed sculpture of a Bactrian camel and an extremely rare and massive archaic bronze ritual vessel from the Eastern Zhou dynasty. 

Bonhams UK and Asia Chairman Colin Sheaf said: "The Ollivier Collection of Early Chinese Art is one of the finest of its kind ever to appear at auction. Jean-Yves is a remarkable man, as his many achievements testify, and his judgement and intuitive feeling for quality and authenticity have been flawless guides throughout his long years of collecting. It is a privilege to be offering these exceptional works."

Jean-Yves Ollivier. © Bonhams.

Born in Algeria, Jean-Yves Ollivier worked as a businessman in Europe, Africa and Asia. It was while he was running different companies in Africa in the 1980s that Ollivier played a pivotal role in the behind-the-scenes peace negotiations that contributed to the ending of apartheid in South Africa, and the release of Nelson Mandela. The part in the secret negotiations played by 'Monsieur Jacques', as Ollivier was known, only came to light in the 2013 documentary, Plot for Peace.

Ollivier's parallel life as a collector began when he worked in London as a stockbroker for another celebrated art collector, Robert Strauss. But it was while visiting the National Palace Museum in Taipei in the late 60s, that he first saw examples of Archaic Chinese Bronzes. Deeply affected by what he saw, the French businessman vowed to acquire a piece. He eventually collected nine bronze ritual food vessels, all of which will feature in the London sale. Interviewed about his collection in the autumn edition of Bonhams Magazine, Ollivier reflected on what drew him to these works: "I think it was because I felt touched, for the first time, by the craftsmanship. The shape is almost always the same, but I feel as if each piece is infused with a human spirit. It is as if the unknown human who made it has transmitted his soul into the material."

The leading pieces are:

Lot 23. The Sir Herbert and Lady Ingram Archaic Bronze Gui. An archaic bronze vessel, Gui, Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BC); 32.5cm (12 3/4in) wide. Estimate £350,000-500,000 (€ 390,000 - 560,000). Unsold.  © Bonhams.

The compressed ribbed globular vessel with flaring rim raised on a hollow pedestal foot terminating in a straight foot rim, cast below the gently everted rim with a band of dragons with double bodies in high relief on two sides, and interrupted on the other sides by two loop handles cast with C-scrolls, springing from stylised bovine masks terminating with pendant tabs, the foot cast with a matching band of kui dragons divided by four low flanges, patinated in light green tone. 

Provenance: Sir Herbert Ingram (1875-1958) and Lady Hilda Ingram (d.1968), Driffield Manor, Cirencester
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 
Sotheby's London, 9 June 1993, lot 122
Gisèle Croës Arts D'Extreme Orient, Brussels, 1993
Jean-Yves Ollivier Collection.

Exhibited, Published and Illustrated: Oriental Ceramic Society, Exhibition of Early Bronzes, London, 1951, no.40
Mostra d'arte Cinese, The Marco Polo Seventh Centenary Exhibition, Venice, 1954, no.51.

Published and Illustrated: W.Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, London, 1962, pl.43b.

Sir Herbert Ingram (1875-1958) donated over 3,000 pieces of Chinese and Japanese art objects to the Museum of Eastern Art in 1956, which in 1962 were moved to become part of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum. Sir Herbert's grandfather founded the Illustrated London News and came from a family of collectors. In 1908, he visited Japan on his honeymoon, and spent three months there hunting for 'curios'. During this time, he and his wife bought over a thousand pieces, many of which formed part of the donation to the museum. A few years after his return to England, Sir Herbert began to turn his interest towards Chinese ceramics. During the following two decades he assembled a renowned collection of greenwares and other ceramics from the Song dynasty and earlier. These, along with numerous early Chinese jades and bronzes he had collected, also came to the museum in 1956.

Sir Herbert Ingram (1875-1958) & Lady Hilda Ingram

Note: The high-relief motif on the neck of a single-headed dragon with joint double-bodies splitting into two sides is rare. Compare with dragons which encircle the shoulder and lid of a you, illustrated by Chen Peifan, Ancient Chinese Bronzes in the Shanghai Museum, London, 1995, p.57, no.30; and a ding, early Western Zhou dynasty, unearthed in Beijing, with similar dragons on its neck and lid, illustrated in Yan State Cemetery of the West Zhou period at Liulihe, Beijing, 1995, p.110.  

The decoration of vertical ribs emerged during the late Shang period, as attested by the Che gui, late Shang dynasty, reportedly unearthed in Anyang, Henan Province, illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol.2, Beijing, 1995, no.92. This form of decoration was especially popular in the early and middle Western Zhou period. Compare with a gui, early or middle Western Zhou period, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (acc.no.B60B887), where both lid and body are decorated with vertical ribs. Another related gui found in Baicun, Shaanxi, middle Western Zhou period, is also fully cast with vertical ribs on its belly. Both examples are illustrated in Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji, vol.5, Beijing, 1996, nos.57 and 65. 

Ritual bronze gui with similar motifs of dragon on the neck and ribbed belly are rare. However, there are several related gui with similar forms and ribbed motifs in important museums and private collections. Compare with a very similar gui, Western Zhou dynasty, which was exhibited at Asia House Gallery, New York, 1965, see M.Loehr, and P.Singer, Relics of Ancient China: From the Collection of Dr. Paul Singer, New York, 1976, no.39. Compare also with a lidded gui, early Western Zhou dynasty, with similar form, foot and handles as well as vertical ribs on the globular belly, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, (ac.no.49.135.6a,b). Another related gui with different motifs on the neck and foot is in the Sackler Collection, illustrated by J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M.Sackler Collections, vol.2, Cambridge MA, 1990, no.49. A fourth related gui from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, is illustrated by Takayasu Higuchi and Minao Hyashi in Ancient Chinese bronzes in the Sakamoto Collection, Tokyo, 2002, p. 120, no.154.

Lot 21. The C.T.Loo and Arthur M.Sackler Archaic Bronze Jia. A rare archaic bronze ritual inscribed tripod vessel, Jia, Early Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BC); 35.5cm (13 3/4in) high. Estimate £300,000-500,000 (€ 340,000 - 560,000). Amended. © Bonhams. 

The bulbous vessel divided into three bulging lobes each elegantly tapered to a straight leg, simply cast with a pair of 'bow strings' encircling and outlining the lobes in zigzag form, with a further bow-string to the tall cylindrical neck set with a bovine head issuing a loop handle, rising to a gently flaring rim cast with a pair of prominent posts with caps, an inscription beneath the handle reading 'Quan bo zuo fu bao zun yi'. 

Provenance: C.T. Loo, New York, no.87246
Frank Caro, New York
Arthur M. Sackler Collection, acc.no.V-142
Christie's New York, 1 December 1994, lot 130
Jean-Yves Ollivier Collection

Published and Illustrated: Chen Mengjia, Mei diguozhuyi jielüede woguo yinzhou tongqi jilu, Beijing, 1962, M.Matsumaru adapted, A Corpus of Chinese Bronzes in American Collections, Tokyo, 1977, pp.66&621, no.A321
N.Barnard & K.Y. Cheung, Rubbings and Hand Copies of Bronze Inscriptions in Chinese, Japanese, European, American, and Australasian Collections, Taipei, 1978, no.603
J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M Sackler Collections, vol.IIB, Cambridge MA, 1990, pp.654-655, no.110

C.T. Loo (1880-1957)

C. T. Loo was one of the most prominent figures in the world of Chinese art. Native of Lujiadou, a village west of Shanghai, Loo moved to Paris in 1902. In 1908, Loo established his own gallery, ‘Lai-Yuan and Company’, in Paris, from which he sold inventories acquired from European dealers. In 1911, other branches of the gallery were opened in Beijing and Shanghai. This time coincided with the collapse of the Qing dynasty, when millennia of Chinese imperial rule came to an end and numerous objects including sculptures from temples, mausoleums, and imperial and private collections surfaced on the art market. Loo’s prominence as a Chinese art dealer continued throughout the 1920s and 1930s, when he opened the “Pagoda,” an outstanding five-story gallery in Paris as Chinese art trade flourished as new museums in the United States hosting Chinese art collections were established. Loo’s business began to decline in the 1940s when the United States entered World War II and civil war broke out in China, leading to his retirement in 1950 at the age of seventy.

Arthur M.Sackler (1913–1987).

Arthur M.Sackler (1913–1987) was an American psychiatrist, art collector, and philanthropist whose fortune originated in medical advertising and trade publications. He began collecting art in the 1940s. His collection was composed of tens of thousands of works including Chinese, Indian, and Middle Eastern as well as Renaissance and pre-Columbian art. He founded galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Princeton University, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology. In 1987, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. was opened months after his death. Sackler had a particular interest though in archaic Chinese bronzes and his collection of Chinese art that was donated to the Smithsonian was considered one of the largest collections of ancient Chinese art in the world. Following his death, The Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, was opened at Peking University in 1993.

Note: Jia with large, broad lobes and wide, flaring necks were popular from the late Shang period and into the early Western Zhou period, mainly in undercoated versions. By the middle Western Zhou, tall jia had been replaced by shorter ones with proportionally shorter necks. Rong Geng indicates the function of jia was to keep the wine warm by burning charcoal underneath, see Rong Geng, Shangzhou yiqi tongkao (The Study of Shang and Zhou Ritual Bronze), Beijing, vol.1, 1941, p.45. This argument can be proved by a number of excavated jia which retained dark charcoal ash on the bottom and limescale in the interior caused by heating; see jia unearthed in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, tomb C8M32, no.2 and tomb M3, no.4, noted by Zhu Fenghan, Zhongguo gudai qingtongqi (Chinese Archaic Bronze), Tianjin, 1994, p.93. 

The seven-character inscription beneath the handle reads: 

犬白乍父寶尊彝

Which may be translated as:

'Earl of Quan made this precious sacrificial vessel for the late father'.

This would suggest that this vessel was placed in a tomb to supply the ancestor with wine. However, it could also be that the deceased was required to continue the rituals in the afterlife to honour ancestors who had preceded them. The pictographic character quan can be either read as the emblem of a family or a family name, which appears to have been active during the late Shang dynasty and early Western Zhou dynasty. Examples bearing the same character are mainly in a style seen on those found in today's Henan Province, see a bronze ding inscribed with the character quan, late Shang dynasty, which is illustrated by Wang Tao and Liu Yu, A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby's and Christie's Sales, Shanghai, 2007, no.44; see another bronze zhi bearing quan, early Western Zhou dynasty, which is illustrated by Liu Tizhi, Xiaojiao Jingge Jinwen Taben (Rubbings of Archaic Bronze Inscriptions at the Xiaojiaojingge Studio), vol.5, p.75, no.2. 

Compare with two related bronze jia, the first in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, 12th-11th century BC, and the second, the Mu Gui jia, said to be from Anyang, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by R.W.Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Cambridge MA, 1987, pp.172-173 and 175, fig.10.2. See also another similar jia, Shang or Western Zhou dynasties, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by J.Rawson, Western Zhou Ritual Bronzes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, Volume IIB, Cambridge MA, 1990, p.656, fig.110.3.

Lot 12. An extremely rare and massive archaic bronze ritual vessel, Fang Hu, Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 – 221 B.C.). Estimate £250,000-350,000 (€ 280,000 - 390,000). Unsold. © Bonhams.

Of pear shape and lobed rectangular cross-section and on a spreading base supported on the backs of four horned buffalo, the sides of the waisted neck applied with writhing tiger-like animal handles with large almond-eyes and pointed ears, their bodies with stripes and long curling tails, the bulbous body divided into quarters by stepped relief bands simulating leather strapwork, cast around the exterior in medium relief with zones of densely scrolling abstracted chilong, each centred around an eye, the smooth brown-green patina with areas of malachite encrustation.

Provenance: The Wang Family Collection, Taipei, by repute
Gisèle Croës Arts D'Extreme Orient, Brussels, 1996
Jean-Yves Ollivier Collection.

Note: The present lot is a magnificent example of the advancement in casting technology accomplished during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, resulting in innovation and elaboration of forms and decoration.

The demise of the Zhou Court and subsequent decentralisation of power resulted in fierce competition among break-away feudal states, not only in terms of political and military power, but also in production of works of art. At a time of constant flux and usurpation of the rigid rules on rites and daily customs set by the Zhou Court, feudal lords were eager to commission exceptionally large and elaborate vessels to be used in their own court rituals and banquets, as a display of power and opulence. With the advent of lost-wax casting technology, complicated and elaborate decorative features that were previously difficult to model with the piece-moulding method become feasible to sculpt, adding depth to the decorative details, as seen on the present lot. 

Compare with a related archaic bronze vase, fang hu, late Spring and Autumn period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, of similar form decorated with archaic scrolls and flanked by a similar pair of tiger handles, but supported on two tigers, illustrated in Bronzes in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1999, pp.247, no.243; and compare also with a fang hu, Spring and Autumn period, in the National Museum of China, Beijing, illustrated by W.Watson in Ancient Chinese Bronze, London, 1962, pl.54a.

Lot 28. A magnificent and large sancai-glazed figure of a Bactrian camel, Tang Dynasty (618-907); 82cm (32 1/4in) high. Estimate £300,000-400,000  (€ 340,000 - 450,000). Sold for £ 368,750 (€ 423,057). © Bonhams.

The camel powerfully modelled in mid-striding pose with its tall hair-lined neck reared back, the head raised and mouth open as if bellowing, exposing its teeth and prominent tongue, the straw-glazed body surmounted by a brilliant green, chestnut and straw-glazed saddle flanked by elaborate bags relief-moulded on each side by a large bulging pack modelled as large grimacing monster mask, surrounded by a raised border suggestive of leather outlined with a pleated scalloped fringe, the thick glaze running down the muscular legs, the camel covered predominantly in amber glaze with the carved details of the fur glazed in brown.

Provenance: Stephen K. C. Lo, P. C. Lu Works of Art Ltd., Hong Kong, 12 November 1991
Jean-Yves Ollivier Collection.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no.566x71 dated 27 November 1991, is consistent with the dating of this lot.

LIFE IN THE TANG DYNASTY AFTERLIFE

Superbly modelled with an arched neck and mouth open wide as it brays, the Ollivier camel is an exceptional example of sancai sculptures created during the Tang dynasty. The extraordinary sense of realism, conveyed by the forward moving posture of the creature, enhanced by the strong and slender legs, highly detailed with tendons and naturalistic tufts of dark fur, and the tall humps, gently swaying to either side of the body, shows a remarkable degree of observation on the sculptor's part which is rarely otherwise encountered on figures of this period to this extraordinary degree.  

The splendid figure would have been individually sculpted and extremely expensive to produce at the time. It would have been commissioned for internment in a burial belonging to an elite member of the Tang society and deemed to become alive for the benefit of its owner. Ancestors in China were deemed active participant to the life of their living offspring, which they could positively influence if provided with continuous care. Miniature universes were thus presented in burials and filled with a variety of necessities disguised as painted, carved or moulded images, which were believed to function like their real counterpart if provided with the correct features (see note 1). Forming an analogical relation with daily forms, these figures embodied important social and ideological aspects of their own time.  

Since its earliest appearance in the form of food and drink vessels, the array of necessities for the afterlife expanded its scope as society evolved and burials became increasingly closer to the spaces and contents of life. This gradual change, initiated during the Warring States period (475–221 BC), probably resulted from the need of addressing an underground bureaucracy that checked the deceased's possessions before granting them entry into an undisturbed afterlife (see note 2). Possibly the forerunner of the practices observed in later times, the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of China, was described by Sima Qian, China's most celebrated historian (d.86 BC), as an accurate map of the universe made of miniature replicas of palaces, ever flowing rivers and heavenly bodies (see note 3). Undoubtedly, the impressive array of 8,000 greater than life-size figures of terracotta warriors, each individually styled and all positioned in large pits surrounding the burial chamber, must have been deemed a fundamental element for the emperor's afterlife and probably reflected his fear of being haunted by the evil spirits of the people that he had killed and conquered through his bloody campaigns.  

By the Tang dynasty, the burials constructed for the highest-ranking members of society were decorated in a way that suggested a courtly architectural compound through painted designs of receiving halls, garden settings and official gatherings, and a large amount of pottery figures of courtiers, attendants, entertainers, horses and camels (see note 4). These figures referred to frivolous moments of daily life and appeared in conjunction with a variety of extravagantly shaped vessels and personal ornaments made of gold, silver, and other precious materials, which reflected the prosperity of the empire.  

In appearance, the Ollivier camel recalls the Bactrian camel, which was imported into China from the areas of the Tarim Basin, eastern Turkestan and Mongolia. This species was highly regarded by the Tang emperors who established dedicated offices to oversees the imperial camel herds (see note 5). The heavy load of pouches, ewers and animal meat, so vividly slung between the two humps of the exquisite camel by means of an elaborate structure composed of hinged slats of wood and poles, recalls the importance of foreign trade in Tang China. Referred to as the ships of the desert, camels endured hot temperatures and were the essential method of transport for merchants wishing to conduct trade with the oasis cities of Central Asia, such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Isfahan, along the trading routes of the Silk Road (see note 6).  

Vast riches poured into the Tang capital, Chang'an, from the Silk Road. Merchants came from far afield to acquire silk, bamboo and lacquer wares, and imported perfumes, horse and jewels (see note 7). Different types of food, spices, and wines were also imported in Tang China, as well as exotic musical genres, fashions and literary styles. In the arts, many foreign shapes such as amphorae, bird-headed ewers and rython cups, and decorative motifs, such as hunting scenes, floral medallions, garlands, swags, vines and Buddhist symbols, were imported from Central Asia and the Middle East (see note 8). The recent excavation of thirty-seven tax receipts, recording approximately 600 payments, made in a year at a tax office outside Turfan (present-day Xinjiang), testifies to the fast pace of trading activities during the Tang dynasty. Chang'an had two main markets, referred to as the Eastern and the Western Market, both filled with shops, eateries and tea houses, and additional trading centres were established in the proximity of its main gates (see note 9).  

The animated attitude of this remarkable camel is reminiscent of the running camels vividly depicted on the walls of Crown Prince Zhuanghuai's tomb (d.684), excavated in Qianxian near Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, dated to AD 706, illustrated, in Out of China's Earth: Archaeological Discoveries in People's Republic of China, Beijing, 1981, pl.258. 

Compare also with a large sancai camel, Tang dynasty, similarly modelled in mid-stride and with a saddle suspending mask-shaped sacks over a pleated cushion, from the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, illustrated by W.Watson, The Arts of China to AD 900, Yale, 1995, pp.231, fig.373. Another sancai camel, Tang dynasty, modelled in a similar posture as the present one, is included in the collection of the British Museum (acc.no.1936.1012.228). 

Camel, approx. 690-750, Tang dynasty (618-907), China, Shaanxi province or Henan province. Glazed earthenware, Sancai. H. 33 3/8 in x W. 29 3/4 in x D. 9 3/4 in, H. 84.8 cm x W. 75.6 cm x D. 24.8 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60S95. © Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

'Sancai' (three-colour) ceramic tomb figure of a camel, 728 (Date recorded for the death of general Liu Tingxun), Tang dynasty (618-907). Height: 33 inches. 1936,1012.228. © Trustees of the British Museum

A sancai glazed camel, Tang dynasty, bearing different goods on its pannier, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2016, lot 3305; another was sold in Christie's New York, 20 September 2005, lot 191. 

Footnotes
1. J.Rawson, 'The Power of Images: The Model Universe of The First Emperor and Its Legacy,' Historical Research, 2002, vol.75, no.188, pp.123-54.
2. V.Hansen (1995), Negotiating Daily Life in Traditional China: How Ordinary People Used Contracts, 600-1400, New Haven, 1995.
3. W.Burton, Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian, New York, 1958.
4. E.L.Johnston, 'Auspicious Motifs In Ninth- To Thirteenth-Century Chinese Tombs', Ars Orientalis, 2005, vol.33, no.2, pp.33-75; see also J.Rawson, 'Creating Universes: Cultural Exchange As Seen In Tombs In Northern China Between the Han and Tang Periods', Between Han and Tang: Cultural and Artistic Interactions in a Transformative Period, Beijing, 2001, pp.113-152.
5. E.Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, Stamford, 1977, vol.2, p. 220.
6. E.R. Krauer, The Camel's Load In Life & Death, Cambridge, 1998, pp.50-120.
7. E.Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of Tang Exotics, Berkeley, 1963, pp.7-40.
8. B.Mater, De Gouden Eeuw Van China: De Tang Dynastie (618-907AD), Assen, 2011, pp.16-68.
9. V.Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History, London, 2012.

Jean-Yves Ollivier and his Tang Dynasty's Bactrian camel. © Bonhams.