DALLAS, TX.- Prominent collectors have long taken keen interest in historic Chinese treasures: carved jade and hardstones, complex cloisonné, ceramics and porcelains, paintings and religious objects. On September 20, Heritage presents a sweeping Signature® auction encompassing works from a handful of important American private collections, with highlights from the estate of Mrs. Amon G. Carter, Jr., an outstanding selection of snuff bottles from the Tappan Family Collection, works from the collection of Morton and Myriame Leviloff, and works from the collection of Angela Gross Folk. These eagle-eyed collectors honed in on the timeless beauty, historical significance and endless charm of Chinese objects, and with an event that kicks off Heritage's fall auction season, the public finds its opportunity to take in these collectors' scholarship and impeccable taste.

"This September, we're delighted to present a carefully curated auction with a wide range of extraordinary Asian works of art," says Moyun Niu, Heritage's Consignment Director of Asian Art. "We invite everyone to join our preview and view the pieces in hand in our Park Avenue Flagship during Fall Asia Week New York."

George Ann Brown Carter, wife of Fort Worth media scion Amon Giles Carter Jr., often worked with famed Asian art dealer C.T. Loo and his noted successor Frank Caro to build the family collection. In 1960 Caro brokered the sale of this 18th-century pair of Chinese cloisonné lions; these enameled guardians sport Central Asian riders atop their knotty spines of gilt bronze. Mrs. Carter liked her beasts: Also from the estate comes this pair of early 20th-century Blanc de Chine Wenshu figures presenting Bodhisattva Wenshu sitting in padmasana on the backs of upward-gazing lions, as well as this pair of large and grinning Chinese lacquered wood lions. She also collected Chinese jade, embroidered silk, bronze and enchanting carved hardstone, as with this pair of detailed and delicate trees in cloisonné planters, complete with flowers, leaves, bark and peaches in various colors.

A unique feature of this event is its impressive array of Chinese snuff bottles, with some of the choicest lots coming in from the private collection of the Tappan family out of California. In the late 16th to 17th centuries, snuff, a luxury import from the West, took the Chinese Qing dynasty elite by storm and they found that airtight bottles were suited to China's humid climate. The small and elaborate bottles, carried in pockets and sleeves, were created in precious materials and customized to reflect the owner, and the designs grew more elaborate over the centuries. These prized bottles were often presented as gifts from the imperial court. The snuff bottles from the Tappan family collection are exquisite: Highlights include emblazoned with a snarling dragon and lotus flowers with a four-character mark, and this surprising yellow glass snuff bottle that features a detailed elephant wrapped around its body. It's a tiny world of its own, and yellow tended to signify imperial work. The Tappan collection boasts snuff bottles in agate, lapis lazuli, carved crystal, and of course jade.

Jade and jadeite in fact have a big presence in this event. An auction highlight is a carved celadon and russet jade Liu Hai boulder from the estate of prominent New York dealer Gerald Malina, who worked with museums and private collections and focused on jades and porcelains. This high-relief, in-the-round carving incorporates the natural color shifts of the jade to enhance the details of the rocky cavern with its tall pine tree, garden rocks, and leaves. This pair of jadeite bowls from the late Qing Dynasty, also from the estate of Gerald Malina, shimmer in high polish with the stone's natural milky tones, and this russet white jade Dragon plaque from the early Qing Dynasty is another notable lot in this event; it's also carved in high relief with its reticulated dragon pursuing a flaming pearl among lotus bloom and scrolling foliage.

Selections from the private collection of Morton and Myriame Leviloff play an important role in this auction. A highlight from the collection and indeed the entire event is this Chinese Clair-de-Lune glazed garlic-mouth vase, with its impeccable shape and color, and a six-character Qianlong mark that makes it possibly of the period. Another remarkable offering from this collection is a group of three Chinese Blanc-de-Chine libation cups, tiny and detailed with surrounding dragons and flora — and in their organic shapes, clear evidence of the artist's hand. A Qing Dynasty carved celadon jade archaistic two-handled cup comes from this collection; though tiny, this special work carved from one piece of pale jade is robust and muscular with a squat shape and handles that mimic informal wood.

Over the course of four decades, medical stenographer Angela Gross Folk and her husband amassed an impressive collection of Chinese porcelain. This event offers up more than 30 selections from the Folk estate, including this pair of large 19th-century Rose Medallion vases with teeming crowd scenes; a pair of Canton Rose Medallion covered tureens from the same period with the lids, liners and exteriors painted with beauties and boys in blooming courtyard settings; and charmingly, this pair of Qing Dynasty cloisonne enamel duck-form vases displaying a stylized floral bloom, scrolling foliage and a yin-yang diagram.

Other highlights in this event include a beguiling rose-pink Peking glass globular vase with an incised four-character Qianling mark of the period; a set of four-seasons Chinese enameled porcelain plaques; a pair of 17th-century Chinese Wucai glazed covered jars decorated with galloping horses (from the aforementioned Malina estate); a Qing Dynasty six-panel screen overlaid with jade, hardstone and cloisonné enamel archaistic vessels and mandarin ducks; and many more.