HONG KONG.- Christie’s Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art department presents more than 400 lots on offer for auction, through a total of 3 sales estimated to realize a total of more than HK$400million. Amongst the highlights is the top lot of A Highly Important Imperial Embroidered Silk Thangka. This extraordinary piece has survived six centuries in impeccable condition and is entirely worked with silk embroidery. There are only two other known similar examples in the world, both of which reside in the Jokhang Monastery in Lhasa.

Drawn By The Senses celebrates the human senses, a subject which has fascinated philosophical and religious writers from many cultures over many centuries. An array of works of art, including the much valued chenxiang and qinan incense wood, censers, teaware, and even musical instruments will be presented.

Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art features very rare Buddhist figures and important private collections, including an exceptional jadeite vase from the Prince Kung collection, a Qianlong celadon- glazed archaistic vase hu, delightful jade miniatures dating to the Ming and Qing periods and a collection of inkstones mostly in Song and Yuan styles.

DRAWN BY THE SENSES
These works of art engages the human senses to connect to the present and to surroundings. The Chinese literati has long advocated works of art not only for visual pleasure, but for the gratification of other senses such as smell, taste, hearing and touch as well.

Aloeswood, also known as chenxiang, for example, was used in incense burning to evoke a soothing smell and sometimes even eaten for its supposedly medicinal purpose. They were already said to be worth their weight in gold in the Song period, and many poems were written alluding to their quality. Incense burning requires censers, and the Qing emperors were particularly fond of this activity, commissioning large quantities of censers, often made to please the eye such as the attractive robin’s egg-glazed censer made during the Yongzheng reign.

Tea-drinking has always been a favourite pastime for Chinese scholars. The tea of choice during the Song and Jin periods was a pale tea that was whisked to produce a white froth on top. Jian black-glazed bowls were especially ideal for drinking whisked tea as the black surface poses stark contrast to the frothy white tea while the thick body material prevents burning the hands．An example would be An Exceptional Jian Hare’s Fur Tea Bowl and A Tixi Lacquer Stand from the Southern Song dynasty.

The archaistic taste of the Qianlong Emperor and his desire to follow the Confucian tradition in regards to ritual music encouraged the development for the standardization of music for court use. To this endeavour, bells and chimes were produced to be played during court ceremonies. Qing court protocol referred to two different types of chimestones sets : sets of sixteen stones (bianqing) and sets of twelve individual stones (teqing). The Rare Large Imperial Gilt-Decorated Spinach Green Jade Musical Chime, Bianqing belongs to the first category.

IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART
Featured in this sale are important figures of devotion and exceptional Imperial porcelain and works of art.

A bodhisattva is a being who seeks bodhi (awakening) and is on the path to becoming a Buddha. The Rare Qingbai-Glazed Figure Of A Bodhisattva Figure is undoubtedly intended to represent one of the ‘celestial’ bodhisattvas who have great wisdom, compassion and miraculous powers. It is the compassion of such bodhisattvas that leads them to endeavour to guide ordinary beings towards enlightenment. A Superb Gilt-Bronze Figure Of Buddha is finely cast seated in dhyanasana and is one of the very few Buddhist figures incised with a Yongle presentation mark.

This figure belongs to a group of very few Dehua figures of Damo made by the venerated potter He Chaozong, who acquired fame during the 16th century for his mastery in modelling white-glazed porcelain figures known as ‘blanc de chine’ in the west, among which those of Damo are particularly rare. Damo was the legendary monk of Indian origin who travelled to China in the sixth century, whose teachings became the foundation of Chan Buddhism. Damo is often depicted standing barefoot on a reed leaf, representing the episode when he crossed the Yangtze River in this manner to evade his pursuers.

An extremely rare Qianlong moon flask is a testament to imperial patronage - combining technical difficulty with the most powerful imperial symbol. The symbol of the emperor was the horned, five-clawed, long dragon, while nine was a number reserved for the emperor - being the largest single digit number. This ritual association between the imperial dragon and the number nine is at its most apparent on the elaborate nine-dragon robes made for the Qing imperial court, the wearing of which was controlled by strict regulation, but can be seen in a particularly rare form on the current vessel.

A Magnificent Fine Celadon-Glazed Archaistic Vase, Hu owned by the Matsushita family of Japan, whose patriarch was the well-known founder of Panasonic Corporation. He was one of the most admired managers in Japan and was often referred to as the ‘God of management’. One of his key interests when building up his art collection was art works related to tea ceremony. The current celadon vase might have served as a flower container in sencha tea ceremony.

A finely carved jadeite vase was part of the treasures from the Prince Kung Collection sold at the American Art Galleries auction in New York in 1913, as part of Pu Wei (1880- 1936), the second Prince Kung’s effort to raise funds to restore the dethroned Qing dynasty. Pu Wei was the grandson of the first Prince Kung, Yixin, who was the sixth son of the Daoguang Emperor as well as one of the most influential figures in China during the second half of the 19th century, playing an important role in China’s domestic and international affairs.

A rare work as there are very few Ding bowls of this large size and form. The closest example to the present bowl of this decorative design and of a flat base is in the Palace Museum, Beijing.

The Su Zhu An Collection of Chinese Inkstones
Su Zhu An is the studio name of Mr. Sakamoto Goro, renowned antique dealer in Japan. His collection of inkstones has a scholarly and antiquarian flavour, most of them in Song and Yuan styles.

Jade Carvings From A Hong Kong Private Collector
Private Collector Collected over 35 years, these fine and delightful jade miniatures mostly date to the Ming and Qing periods, and were selected with an expert eye with an emphasis on quality and material.

A HIGHLY IMPORTANT IMPERIAL EMBROIDERED SILK THANGKA
PROPERTY FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Christie’s Hong Kong will be offering in November 2014 a highly important imperial silk thangka from the Ming dynasty Yongle period (1402-1424). This very rare piece, exquisitely embroidered throughout with gold threads and brilliant coloured silk threads, depicts the majestic Raktayamari, the Red Conqueror of Death with his consort Vajravetali in blissful union of wisdom and compassion.

The Emperor Yongle was a devout Buddhist who became a devoted disciple of the fifth Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu lineage. According to records the Emperor on numerous occasions bestowed imperial favours to the abbot. It is thought that the present impressive thangka was among the diplomatic exchanges with Tibet. The thangka’s early journey is uncertain but it is known that this massive textile came to the West from the small Indian state of Sikkim. It was a present from the Chogyal, Sir Tashi Namgyal, given to his old English friend in the 1940s and later sold through Christie’s London in 1977. It is thought that this thangka found its way to Sikkim when the Kagyupa sect founded a monastery in Sikkim in the late 16th century