Bonhams Spring Auction Preview with Julian King

Date :
26 May 2012, Saturday
Time :
9:20 Registration; 9:30-10:30 Tour
Venue :
Meet at the Entrance to Bonhams Exhibition, Island Shangri-La Hotel, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Cost :
$150 Member; $200 Non-member; Free for student with valid ID
Limit :
20
Enquiries :
Sef Lam at [email protected] or 2525-5063

Bonhams spring auctions include a diverse range of ceramics and works of art, reflecting the artistic brilliance of China's long history. This guided preview by Julian King will primarily focus on the section of Yixing stoneware teapots and teawares from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Hawthorn. It will be complemented by an additional collection of teapots, most of which have been published and exhibited in the National Museum of History, Taipei.

Highlights from this exhibition will include a number of Yixing stoneware teapots potted by prominent Yixing masters from the late Ming dynasty to the modern period – an appliqué-decorated teapot mounted with a metal spout and wood handle, signed by the Yixing master Chen Tingsheng; a fine teapot incised with a scholar's poem, produced by the Jiaqing master Shao Youlan; a teapot of archaistic form, signed by the Kangxi master Hua Fengxiang; and a scholar's object made by Jiang Rong, a descendent of the prominent Republican masters Jiang Yeting and Xu Xiutang. There are also examples of teawares produced from other materials, including an early Qing dynasty bamboo teapot of exceptional quality, comparable to the finest examples from the Imperial collection.

Bonhams spring auctions will also include snuff bottles produced in the palace workshops in the Qianlong period from the Mary and George Bloch, Part V collection; an outstanding large cloisonné enamel incense burner and cover from the Qianlong period, the other of a pair to one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and a Hongwu copper-red bowl from the George Eumorfopoulos collection.

Julian King is the Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art in Bonhams Hong Kong. King read Classical and Modern Chinese at Wadham College, Oxford, working as a Chinese art specialist in London from 2000 to 2008 before taking up the position in Hong Kong. He has developed the Hong Kong market by focusing on specialised single owner sales of snuff bottles, soapstones, Yixing stoneware and seal carving.