Paris Auction - Autumn 2001

By Hwee Lie Blehaut

Detail of `Leaving the Capital by the Zhengyamen in the Beijing District of Liangxiang' By Xu Yang (act. at court c. 1751-76), before 1771 Horizontal scroll, ink and colour on silk Height 69 cm, length 19.2 m (both sections) Poulain & le Fur and Francois de Ricqles' `Art de l'Asie' sale, Paris, 23 September 2001, lot 125 Price: FFr10 million (estimate FFr 1/1.2 million)

In spite of international economic and political uncertainties, the `Art de l'Asie' sale held by Poulain & le Fur and Francois de Ricqles on 23 September was well attended, with buyers from Europe and Asia. It achieved an impressive result of FFr33,424,100 for 253 of the 275 lots offered. Remarkably, four lots - two paintings, a set of twelve seals and one jade seal accounted for 77 per cent or FFr26.9 million of the total. They belong to a group of exceptional objects, reputedly from the Forbidden City, which had been in a French family collection since the 1900s (lots 124-84). The importance of the sale was evident in the well-illustrated catalogue with extensive entries and footnotes.

The two scrolls came from a set of twelve by the court painter Xu Yang depicting important events in the Qianlong emperor's journey to the southern provinces in 1751. Commissioned in 1764, the set was completed before the emperor's 60th birthday in 1771. There was great surprise when London dealer James Hennessy of Oriental Arts paid a record price of FFr10 million for the first of the set, Leaving the Capital by the Zhengyamen in the Beijing District of Liangxiang (lot 125). Although measuring more than twenty metres in length, the scroll had unfortunately been cut in two to fit the owner's apartment and part of it is now lost. Interestingly, the modest estimate of FFr1/1.2 million, set due to its condition by specialist-in-charge Fran‡oise Leroy-Laveissiere, was already considered expensive by French standards for a Chinese painting at auction. Hennessy created another stir by buying the following lot (126), the seventh scroll of the set titled Arrival in the Province of Zhejiang near Jiaxing for FFr6 million (estimate FFr500/600,000). The fact that the Qianlong seals are missing from the opening section was reflected in its low estimate. Other scrolls from this famous set have only appeared on the international market twice before, in 1984 and 1988 at Sotheby's New York. In the latter sale, the scroll was acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, together with its original lacquer box, for US$473,000 (including buyer's premium). Hennessy commented that this was an opportunity not to be missed. It is believed that the paintings may go to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, but for the moment they are being restored. In addition to these two examples, eight others are accounted for in various museums and private collections, while the whereabouts of the remaining two are currently unknown.

Other paintings in the sale also realized fantastic prices. An Asian client paid FFr900,000 for an anonymous work depicting Emperor Daoguang on horseback practising archery (lot 129; estimate FFr200/300,000). Painted at the beginning of his reign, the signature and three poems are in the emperor's hand. There is also an important seal from Daoguang's private library. The exceptional quality of the painting is comparable to works of the Qianlong period, showing strong influences of Castiglione's style in its composition and treatment of detail. The cover lot, an attractive and luminously rendered portrait of a concubine, executed in oil on thick paper, is attributed to the Jesuit painter Jean-Denis Attiret (lot 124; estimate FFr2/300,000). An Asian buyer bid up to FFr620,000 but to his surprise and frustration, the Musee des Beaux-Arts in D“le took advantage of their option to pre-empt at the highest bid, a practice unique to French auctions. Dole, in the eastern part of France, is Attiret's birthplace and apparently the museum already has two paintings signed by him, which explains this extraordinary intervention. By exercising this right, the museum has fifteen days to give the auctioneers written confirmation of their desire to purchase; if they fail to do so, the piece will go to the highest bidder. In addition, museums are not liable for the normal buyer's premium, as they are exempted from certain charges. A portrait of Chunhui, one of Qianlong's first concubines, is now in the home of a Taiwan collector (lot 128; estimate FFr5/600,000). It went for FFr460,000.

Asian buyers dominated in the jade section. A Hong Kong dealer paid an astonishing FFr6.3 million, more than fifteen times its estimate of FFr300/400,000, for a set of twelve steatite and jade miniature seals (lot 131) belonging to the Kangxi emperor. The buyer of lot 128 also managed to obtain a green jade official Qianlong dragon seal of massive size for FFr4.6 million, ten times the estimate of FFr400/500,000 (lot 132).

Another interesting item was a richly carved red lacquer box, bearing a 1749 inscription stating that it was for holding the fourth and final scroll of the famous Mulan Hunt painting by Castiglione and various Chinese painters (lot 133; estimate FFr100/150,000). Since all four scrolls which comprise the painting are in the Musee Guimet, it was generally expected that the museum would purchase it. Instead, Paris dealer Christian Deydier secured it for what was considered a low price at FFr170,000.

The only porcelain item in this imperial group was a pair of Qianlong-marked benba ewers decorated in doucai enamels, and enhanced with turquoise and gilt copper. As such ewers are rarely found in pairs, the restoration on one did not deter a UK dealer from paying FFr460,000 (lot 144; estimate FFr300/400,000). The success and importance of this group of imperial objects had a significant impact on a sale which would otherwise have been of uneven quality. According to Thierry Portier, the other specialist-in-charge, some items would have been cheaper in a shop. An exception was an imposing 18th century Nabeshima baluster vase with underglaze blue and green enamel decoration (lot 116; estimate FFr80/120,000). Portier considered the price of FFr120,000 paid by a Japanese buyer to be reasonable. A `Dame au Parasol' plate after a design by Cornelis Pronk carried a low estimate of FFr4/5,000 due to considerable damage, but sold, thanks to its unusually large size, for FFr49,000 (lot 69). (Prices quoted are without the buyer's premium.)