The largest collection of Asian art ever to appear at auction – the collection of distinguished American scholar, dealer Robert Hatfield Ellsworth – will be offered by Christie’s during Asian Art Week in New York next March. It will be dispersed during a special five day series of auctions and online only sales. Widely recognized throughout Asia and the Americas for his ground-breaking role in the study and appreciation of Asian Art, Mr. Ellsworth, who died last August, opened new arenas of collecting to Western audiences. He built a successful business purveying the very finest works of art to his generation’s foremost collectors. His personal collection of over 2,000 items was assembled over a lifetime and is widely recognized as the most important grouping of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian sculpture, paintings, furniture and works of art.
A view from his 22 room apartment on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. © Christie’s Images Limited 2014
Robert Ellsworth in Anhui Province, China, 1995.© Christie’s Images Limited 2014