The Yamanaka Reticulated Vase – recently discovered in a private Japanese Collection – sold for US$19,009,102 at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong today. This was almost three times its pre-sale estimate. Carved and exquisitely painted with four pairs of fish below Rococo-inspired motifs on a yellow sgraffiato ground, the exceptional famille-rose reticulated vase is skilfully modelled with an inner blue-and-white vase. It ranks among the most complex porcelains ever commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795). It is pair to the Bainbridge vase which made international headlines when it was sold in the UK in 2010.
An outstanding Falangcai Poppy Bowl sold for US$21,600,158. Unassuming in its beauty, the bowl is exquisitely enamelled on the exterior with an intricate design of poppies issuing from rockwork, with a butterfly depicted fluttering gracefully overhead, a fourteen-character poem, and the interior with a finger-citron, apple and cherries. The bowl is the only recorded example of this design outside of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 13, 2018)
The Yamanaka Reticulated Vase
The Falangcai Poppy Bowl