PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Freeman’s April 13 Asian Arts auction presents collectors of Chinese craftsmanship opportunities to add remarkable 17th - and 18th -century furniture and design objects to their collections.

The sale is led by a pair of Chinese huanghuali, or fragrant rosewood, armchairs (Lot 28), elegant works crafted in the late Ming to Qing dynasty and offered at an estimate of $80,000-120,000. This particular “Sichitou Guanmaoyi” design form (“official’s-hat chair with four protruding ends”) would have been reserved for the most important and most honored member of a household in 17th -century China. The chairs’ handsome, streamlined forms and unusual bowed splats will appeal to discerning collectors of Chinese furniture.

Asian Arts also features the sale of two design highlights, richly decorated 18th -century Chinese vases. The first, a large and impressive Chinese gilt-repoussé-embellished cloisonné vase (Lot 14), features both an intricate, multicolored lotus scroll allover design, as well as an auspicious five-clawed dragon snaking around the vase’s pearshaped form, chasing a flaming jewel. Presented at an estimate of $40,000-60,000, this vase’s gilt-repoussé embellishment suggests Imperial patronage. An exceptional pair of Chinese champlevé cloisonné enamel gilt metal gu-form vases from the Qianlong/Jiaqing period (Lot 12; estimate: $50,000-70,000) will also delight

Asian art collectors. In addition to the previous cloisonné vase, this elegant pair comes to Freeman’s from the collection of Norman Stanley Potter (1926-1970), a notable collector within the art and antique worlds of New York with a particular eye for Asian art and antiquities. Remarkable in both provenance and craftsmanship, these vases feature finely decorated enamel lotus-scroll forms throughout and an eye-catching gilt body. Asian Arts, beginning at 10am EST on April 13, also features fine jade carvings acquired from leading American and British dealers, Imperial porcelains, fine Japanese lacquers and woodblock prints, silk-embroidered tapestries, and paintings by Qi Baishi and Wu Changshuo. The exhibition will be on view by appointment at our 1600 West Girard Avenue location from April 8 to April 12, by appointment only