NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams partners with Asia Week New York for the ninth annual celebration and affirmation of Asian art with a tightly curated selection of auctions from its three distinguished Asian art departments. Representing visual cultures across the continent, March 13-15 sales include Chinese Works of Art, Portraits of the Master: 108 Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages, and The Korean Aesthetic: The Collection of Robert W. Moore. Please join us at noon on March 9 for a private tour of Bonhams New York Asia Week preview.

“As a leader in Asian arts Bonhams is thrilled to present museum-worthy pieces during this annual event which brings together an international community of passionate experts, dealers, and collectors,” says Dessa Goddard, Head of Asian Art, Bonhams North America.

CHINESE SALES COMMENCE ASIA WEEK AT BONHAMS NEW YORK
Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles at 10 am on March 13 starts off Asia Week sales at Bonhams New York. The auction includes 88 lots from the collection of Dr. Phillip S. Brachman, with many early glass bottles and an excellent selection of inside-painted snuff bottles. Highlights include an inside painted landscape bottle by one of China's leading artists of interior bottle-painting, Ding Erzhong (1897) ($25,000-35,000). In the late Qing period Ding Erzhong’s (1865-1935) scholarly status set him apart from his peers that formed the Beijing School. Also known as Ding Shangyu, he was a celebrated calligrapher and seal carver, in addition to snuff bottle artist. The snuff bottle sale also includes several lots from the collection of New York collector and author Elsa Glickman, including a white and grey jade snuff bottle ($6,000-8,000) published in Bob Stevens The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, number 367.

Following the snuff bottle sale, the second auction, Chinese Works of Art and Paintings at noon on March 13 offers over 150 lots with sections focusing on classical Chinese painting and scholars’ objects, jade, porcelain, and bronzes. Among the many highlights is an ink landscape handscroll by Gong Xian (1618-1689) ($120,000-180,000), a revered Nanjing School painter and an important member of the Eight Masters of Nanjing. The horizontal painting rendered solely in ink depicts a landscape in his unique style with willow-covered mountains in soft velvety grey tones contrasted by unpainted areas of white paper.

TIBETAN SCULPTURE SET TO SHINE AFTER WORLD RECORD IN HONG KONG
Recently adding the $6,351,479 world record auction price for a Tibetan sculpture to Bonhams’ list of record-breaking sales of Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art in recent years, the auction house is poised to offer exciting artworks in this category in two sales–Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art at 3pm on 13 March, and Portraits of the Masters at 6:30 pm on March 14.

At the Portraits of the Masters auction an exceptional gilded portrait of Drigungpa Jigten Sumgon Rinchenpel (1143-1217), estimated at $300,000-500,000, leads the star-studded single-owner collection of 108 Tibetan bronze sculptures being sold individually. The Portraits of the Masters collection is renowned for being the best private Western assemblage of sculptural portraits of Tibet’s historic and religious leaders, for which no museum or institution outside of Tibet can claim to rival. Bonhams anticipates impassioned bidding throughout the sale as portrait sculptures are heralded for their eccentric features compared to the more formulaic depictions of Tibetan Buddhism’s deities.

A silver inlaid portrait of Tsangnyon Heruka (1452-1507), estimated at $100,000-150,000 exemplifies the charismatic quality of superior Tibetan portrait sculpture. Known as “The Mad Man of Tsang”, this spiritual master rejected the monastic conventions of his time to pursue the vagrant lifestyle of a great tantric yogin, inspired by the lore and miraculous powers of Tibetan Buddhism’s Indian ancestors.

A 14th-century gilt copper alloy figure of Vajravarahi, estimated at $200,000-300,000, is among the fine Tibetan sculptures offered within the Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art (3 pm on March 13). Surviving from the glorious Densatil monastery lost during the Cultural Revolution, this vibrant, densely cast, and richly gilt dancing goddess survives with the original tang that would have attached it to the surmounting tier of one of Tibet’s most spectacular gilded stupas.

Indian miniature paintings from the collection of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), the father of Indian Art History, are for sale in tandem with the 2017 centenary celebration of his arrival to the United States as the Keeper of Indian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1917. Among the group is an illustration from a Nayika series, Kangra, circa 1800, estimated at $30,000-50,000. Allegorizing a charming love poem, a young lady is amused by coupling pigeons on her balcony, while the sprigs behind her betray her own fomenting desire while thoughts turn to her beloved.

Also within the sale is a late-15th-century illuminated Islamic manuscript with découpécalligraphy, estimated at $60,000-80,000. With the calligraphy created by pasting delicate pieces of colored paper onto the page, the technical virtuosity entailed is extraordinary, and the manuscript from which this page stems is one of the most remarkable examples of royal book production in the late medieval Islamic world.

Edward Wilkinson, Executive Director of Bonhams Asia and Global Head of Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art adds, “Prized Islamic manuscripts are rarely offered within the US art market, so this important royal page from the Diwan of a Timurid prince, is a rare treat for domestic collectors and institutions. It joins a lineup across two sales that excels in caliber, particularly among Indian painting and Himalayan sculpture, and we expect a lot of excitement in response from the international collecting community.”

EXCLUSIVE JAPANESE, KOREAN, AND SCHOLARLY TEA COLLECTIONS
A fantastic conclusion to Bonhams’ Asia Week offerings is a trio of Chinese and Japanese tea ceremony objects (10 am on March 15), Japanese art (1 pm on March 15), and Korean art (2 pm on March 15).

The Zuiun Collection sale (10 am on 15 March) offers Japanese and Chinese tea ceremony objects, including sculpted trays, implements, and Chinese Ruyi scepters all made of wood. Scholarly and important objects from several periods recall nature in carvings and fine details. An example and leader a bamboo scepter from the Meiji (1868-1912) or Taisho era (1912-1926) ($18,000-25,000) is intricately sculpted into intertwining blossoms. Such an elegant tool would have been used in Sencha ceremonies where whole tea leaves are infused in hot water to make green tea. Brought from China by Priest Ingen, founder of the Obaku school of Zen Buddhism, the tradition was the most popular tea method enjoyed by high ranking intellectuals through the beginning of the Showa period.

The only dedicated auction of Japanese art both at Asia Week and across the US, Japanese works of Art (1 pm on15 March) includes more than 250 lots of prints among other significant offerings. The first print-focused Japanese sale at Bonhams in five years compromises two large sections of, including a substantial array from the Jeffrey M. Kaplan collection. Bonhams steadfastly supports collectors of Japanese art across all media, including prints, and works on paper, both classical and modern; paintings and screens; swords, armor and Samurai-related artifacts; Buddhist art; ceramics; Meiji-period decorative arts. Bonhams is the only major auction house that holds exclusive Japanese sales in the United States.

The sole Korean sale during the week is The Korean Aesthetic: The Collection of Robert W. Moore on 15 March at 2 pm. Up for auction 60 lots of important Buddhist art, ceramics, and screen painting highlight the esteemed American collectors eye and scholarship. Moore began his now renowned collection of Korean art in the 1950s when he served in the US Army and was stationed in Korea. Pieces from Moore are included in global art institutions, such as Asia Society, LACMA, and the National Museum of Korea.

Highlights from the sale included a rare large porcelain reticulated flower pot stand ($60,000-80,000) emblematic of late Joseon Dynasty with its distinctive white color and open lattice work imitating a wicker basket. Dating from the overthrow of Goryeo Dynasty to the late 19th century, the Joseon Dynasty encouraged Chinese Confucian ideals and saw the refinement of classical culture and literature.

ALSO ON VIEW

• A preview of rare moonflasks from the Skinner Family Collection to be included insale of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at Bonhams Hong Kong at 10 am on 10 May.

• A non-selling exhibition of a private collection of Meiji era (1868-1912) metal work—mixed metal-inlaid bronzes and silver—represents the highest point in the development of Japanese metal art in terms of design and execution. Soon after the Meiji period, with the coming of WWII in the Pacific much of the knowledge was lost with reduced resources and interest in the genre.