SWORDERS
Sworders, established in a coffee shop in 1782, is one of the UK’s leading Fine Art Auctioneers, conducting two auctions including Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian works of art and paintings a year to coincide with Asian Art in London. All lots will be on extended view at the London gallery, the sale will take place at our Stansted Mountfitchet Auction Rooms.
On view at Sworders Fine Art (GES and Sons Limited), 15 Cecil Court, London, WC2N 4EZ.
The Auction held at Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, CM24 8GE
Yexue Li
Phone +44 (0)1279 817 778
Email yexueli@sworder.co.uk
Website https://www.sworder.co.uk/
Asian Art Auction, Friday 4th November 10.00 am
At The Stansted Auction Rooms
Cambridge Road
Stansted Mountfitchet
Essex CM24 8GE
Tel: +44 (0)1279 817778
On view in London
Sworders Fine Art (GES and Sons Limited), 15 Cecil Court, London, WC2N 4EZ
Sat, 29th Oct 10.00 am-13.00 pm
Sun, 30th Oct 10.00 am-13.00 pm
Mon, 31st Oct 10.00 am-16.00 pm
Tues, 1st Nov 10.00 am-16.00 pm
Weds, 2nd Nov 10.00 am-16.00 pm
Thurs, 3rd Nov 10.00 am-16.00 pm
Auction in Stansted Mountfitchet
Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, CM24 8GE
Friday, 4th Nov 10.00 am-17.30 pm, GMT
Please note: all sale times and viewing times should be confirmed
BUSINESS ADDRESS Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfichet, Essex, CM24 8GE
A collection of Chinese sang de boeuf, 18th-19th century
A Chinese blue and white vase, 18th century, of rouleau form, painted with dragons chasing flaming pearls among clouds,
42cm high.
Provenance: from the collection of John Timlin (died 11 September 2020), a world-renowned art psychotherapist. John started collecting Chinese porcelain in the 1950s along with French and German art nouveau objects. He had an extensive library on these subjects and travelled around the world visiting galleries, dealers and collectors. He also visited China in the 1980s. This vase was used as a lamp in his property in Chelsea.
A large Chinese copper red and underglaze-blue snuff bottle, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the cylindrical body rising from a circular foot to a flared rim, painted with Eight Daoist Immortals among waves, six-character Yongzheng mark to base,
12cm high, the stopper with a coral cabochon finial (2)
A pair of Chinese cloisonné candlesticks, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the tapering base rising to a circular drip tray, surmounted by a bulbous section below a smaller tray fitted with a metal pricket, decorated with scrolling lotus against a blue ground,
10cm high (2)
A Chinese polychrome-enamelled porcelain plaque,
20th century, of rectangular form, in the style of Wang Qi (1884-1937), painted with a wealthy man and his son clutching tightly to a cash coin inscribed 'Xing Ming zhi Bao' (Treasures of Life), a poor man by their side reaching out, inscribed with a dedication to commemorate the anniversary of the Jingdezhen School of Fine Art, the signature of Wang Bizhen and two seals reading 'Wang Qi Hua Yin' and 'Zengcai Duoli shi Kong Kong' (Being aggressive for wealth and profit will end in nothing), accompanied by a poem describing the danger of greed which translates:
Good money, good money
Linked with life and death
Even with this money
Still want a house and a field
A happy family together
Only thinking of themselves
With the sight of a rat's eye
Takes over and does not let go
Who dares to get in the way
The young and the old do nothing
Fearing any words of wisdom
Trading wife for money
With no regard for the greater good
If their greed does not change
The household will not last
37.5 x 25cm, framed
Fourteen illustrated leaves from a manuscript of Firdausi’s 'Shahnama’,
the calligraphic script probably 15th century, Iranian, in four columns with 25 lines per page, each with a later miniature painting, 19th century, Indian, painted in spaces left blank in the text,
gouache on paper heightened with gilt,
image 25 x 17cm, framed and glazed, one painted both sides (13)
Provenance: Acquired by the vendor's grandparents during their time in Pakistan in the 1960s, thence by descent.
The thirteen detached leaves are taken from a Persian manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdausi, a work completed in Khurasan, Eastern Iran, c.1020 AD. The copy is in a fine calligraphic hand, probably of the 15th century, clearly written in Iran. The fourteen miniature paintings were added in India in the 19th century (one leaf has a painting on both sides), painted over spaces left blank in the text – they are not painted over the text, as sometimes occurred. The scene depicting Bahman giving a message to Rustam is in the style of the Iranian Qajar period (c.1797-1925) and was possibly done in Iran before the manuscript was taken to India.
We are grateful to Professor Charles Melville for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.
A Japanese cloisonné box,
Meiji period (1868-1912), in the style of Gonda Hirosuke (1865-1937), of rounded rectangular form, decorated in raised enamel (moriage) on a pale green-grey ground, with carp swimming through rippling water, the rims mounted in silver, stamped marked jungin,
12.2cm long, and
another,
similarly decorated with goldfish,
12.2cm long (4)
Adopted into the Gonda family in 1887, Hirosuke was later taught by Hayashi Kodenji. After opening his own enamelling workshop in 1891, he went on to win awards at many international exhibitions, including Paris 1889 (bronze), St Louis 1904 (silver) and Liège 1905 (gold). He also worked as a subcontractor to Ando where his varied techniques in producing cloisonné enamels were much admired.
Moriage, or 'piling up', requires the building up of layers of enamel to produce a three-dimensional effect, which is ideally suited for natural subjects, i.e. plants and flowers, and works particularly well for depicting fish moving through rippling water. The technique is laborious, requiring extreme care, particularly during polishing.
A Japanese Satsuma ware vase,
Meiji period (1868-1912), the tapering body rising to a rounded shoulder with a flared mouth, painted with panels of figures gathering under cherry blossoms or in a courtyard of a temple with a tablet reading 'Kinkozan', surrounded by scrolling florets in gilt against a midnight-blue ground, with a four-character mark Kageyama seizo in a square to base,
24.5cm high
