iht, APRIL 23, 2006 Art fairs steal the show from the auction houses By Souren Melikian International Herald Tribune NEW YORK In the battle for business between auction houses and the art trade, both dependent on dwindling supplies, some dealers are exploiting art fairs with extraordinary effect. Strengthened by selling shows in galleries and prolonged by the activity they later generate, the best art fairs far outshine what auction houses offer. During last month's Asian Week in New York, Chinese art offered at Christie's on March 29 and Sotheby's a day later compared well with what was on view at the Asian Art Fair, held in the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue. Selling shows organized across town by American and European dealers, however, tipped the scales heavily in favor of the art trade. A few magnificent lots at the two auction houses were not enough to restore the balance. At Christie's, a mid- 14th-century blue and white bottle in the shape of a double gourd, one of only two known such pieces, shot up to just over $2 million. At Sotheby's, a squat blue and white jar, early 15th century, brought $4.72 million. Other outstanding pieces included, at Christie's, a rare Han wooden horse of the first or second century from an old Chicago collection, which sold for $419,000. At Sotheby's, a 12th-century Song brush washer potted under an off- white glaze with a wide crackle, formerly in a famous English collection, brought a gigantic $688,000. Otherwise, the riveting treasures of Chinese art were on view in the trade. Metalwork from Ancient China prior to and including the Tang period (A.D. 618-907) has nearly vanished from the auction arena. Yet in the Fuller Building, at 41 East 57th Street, Gisèle Croes of Brussels had a bronze Tang mirror with a low-relief pattern of animals and scrolls covered in chased-gold foil that was a masterpiece of its time. Croes says that she acquired it from a Taiwan collector. Priced at $400,000, the mirror sold the day before the show formally opened - as did a vase from the third century B.C. inlaid with gold and silver, of a size unknown in that style, despite a $1.8 million price tag. An early Tang reliquary, with horizontal fluting on a cylindrical body, a gem of pure beauty that seemed inexpensive by comparison, went within a day of the opening for $120,000. James Lally, the U.S. leader in early Chinese art, showed a footed bronze ritual food bowl of the eighth century B.C. with bold abstract motifs. The bowl sold hours before the opening for less than $100,000. Even more stunning to modern eyes was a bronze lamp of the first century B.C. in a rare early Han style that is never seen in Western auction rooms. It cost a West Coast buyer a modest $50,000. Other pieces of a kind rarely seen at auction appeared at the Asian Fair. Conor Mahony sold an earthenware jar from the Majiayao culture, dating from the middle of the third millennium B.C., on which stylized, almost geometrical human features were molded in low relief. For $85,000 he also sold a set of 14th-century funerary figures in gray earthenware, of which few have escaped dispersal. Dealers outdid the auction houses in the later periods, too. Richard and Stewart Marchant of London offered an 18th-century oval bowl in off-white jade richly wrought on its rounded sides with characters in a landscape. It sold at the opening, despite its $265,000 price. Two small bowls with scenes and calligraphy painted in blue, obviously by great masters, were inscribed on the underside with the seal mark of the Qianlong emperor, who ruled from 1736 to 1795. The Marchants had bought them back from a client who had them on extended loan at the Denver Museum of Art. The price, $75,000, was reasonable and a Chinese collector swooped on them. More modest dealers with years of experience and an eye for beauty further increased the attraction of the fair. Dries Blitz of Amsterdam showed a beautiful 12th-century qingbai bowl and Jan van Beers of London displayed a ravishing Song dynasty bowl of the same period, with so-called tortoiseshell glaze, which was sold for an approachable $13,000. The auction houses lacked pieces of comparable subtlety. At Sotheby's a host of lumpy wares, described as Song (960-1279) but possibly inspiring doubts about their period, failed to attract any bids. Top dealers, with a reputation for connoisseurship stretching back decades, clearly hold a trump card. They select beautiful pieces and provide an irreplaceable insurance policy. In the field of Old Masters, the role of leading dealers in guaranteeing quality is even more marked, and is amplified by fairs, such as the European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht, the Netherlands, where rigorous vetting committees include famous museum curators. Add the self-censorship practiced by the best dealers, anxious not to lose face among their peers, and the result is a quality level that auction houses, in need of quantity, cannot match. This year, Maastricht did better than ever. Robert Noortman of Maastricht sold 32 pictures for more than €18 million, or $22 million, and Johnny Van Haeften of London 26 pictures for around $10 million. Van Haeften sold another $10 million of paintings as a follow-up. Some of his pictures, including a Jacob van Walscapelle still life acquired in Boston, came from private sources. Others came from auctions. A still life by Harmen Loeding, bought at Sotheby's London in December for £34,500, or $61,300, was priced in Maastricht at $150,000. Reserved at the private viewing, the Loeding was bought the next day by a Washington collector after the first prospective buyer missed his extended deadline by two minutes. Next door, Konrad Bernheimer, the chairman of Colnaghi's, parted with a €2 million panel depicting Jesus surrounded by small children. Once attributed to Lucas Cranach the Elder, this was sold in Sotheby's July 2005 auction with its attribution downgraded to Lucas Cranach the Younger. In Maastricht, Bernheimer proposed a qualified restitution to "Lucas Cranach the Elder, and studio." The panel quickly found a German buyer unconcerned by the qualification. Richard Green of London, who had also bought some pictures recently at auction, sold them with equal brio. A client came to Maastricht looking for a quality Venetian view that would fit a specific emplacement. A Lucas Carlevarijs priced around £3.75 million met his requirements. Whether in Chinese art or in Old Masters, the top dealers are increasingly seen as supreme arbiters. To new buyers who dread the pressure of making a decision at auction, they offer the opportunity to acquire the best with greater safety. That is worth quite a premium. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/21/news/raamelikian.php
with kind regards,
Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list)
http://www.chinaresource.org http://www.fluktor.de
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