Featured Zisha Teapots at Naik Antiques and Oriental Gifts for Aug - Sept 2017

Dear readers,

Please feel free to drop by and have a look at our featured Zisha teapots for Aug - Sept 2017:)

Venue: Naik Antiques & Oriental Gifts

Add: 111M, Jln SS 21/37, Damansara Utama (Same row as HSBC), 47400 PJ, Selangor.

For further inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact May at 018 3867939.

Rising China: Why a Chinese Vase Made €740,000 at Auction By Michael Parsons

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“Chinese vase sells for record price. ” Heard it before? Well, here we go again.

Last Saturday, a bidding war lasting seven minutes unexpectedly erupted during Sheppard’s auction of Chinese Ceramics, in Durrow, Co Laois. Lot 86, an antique blue-and-white “Qing Period” vase measuring just 23cm sold for €740,000 – 740 times its median pre-sale estimate (€800-€1,200) – and a record price for a piece of decorative art at auction in Ireland.

Why was it so valuable?

The vase was catalogued as “Qing Period” – a reference to the imperial Qing dynasty that ruled China from 1636 until 1912. But the bidders believed that the vase had a personal connection to the 18th-century Emperor Qianlong who reigned from 1735-1796 and was a major patron of the arts and a collector of carved jade, bronzes and ceramics. The vase was likely to have been either part of his personal collection or to have been given by him as a gift to, perhaps, a visiting dignitary.

The price beat the previous record – also achieved by Sheppard’s in 2012 when a matchbox-sized, carved Chinese jade seal sold for €630,00. The estimate for the seal had been €4,000-€6,000.

Both are classic examples of auction “sleepers” – the term used to describe items which have been massively, and unintentionally, undervalued but are spotted by at least two bidders who believe the true value to be far, far higher.

Chinese “sleepers” have emerged at Sheppard’s and other Irish and international auction houses during the past decade – and achieved jaw-dropping prices – as a generation of newly-rich Chinese collectors roam the world seeking to buy back items associated with the country’s imperial past.

But a bemused public may wonder why does this keep happening?

Auctioneers say that Chinese ceramics can be very difficult to value with absolute precision even by the most eminent experts. Items continue to slip through the net – to the delight of vendors and, of course, the auctioneers who earn whopping commission on such sales. Of course, it’s not just Chinese antiques that can cause a surprise. For example, at Adam’s auctioneers in Dublin in April this year, a painting of Christ with a top estimate of €800 sold for €120,000. But, in recent years, it is Chinese “sleepers” that have attracted most attention. The first major such sale in Ireland took place also at Sheppard’s in 2010 when another blue-and-white Chinese vase valued at around € 100, and consigned by a Carlow family who thought it was only of ornamental value, was bought by a London dealer for € 110,000. Since then, there have been quite a few spectacular prices achieved at Sheppard’s and other auction houses both here and overseas.

Spotting the imperial pieces among the sea of blue-and-white antique Chinese porcelain has become the stuff of legend in auction rooms worldwide. The market for antique Chinese porcelain is also reputedly full of counterfeits and so buyers and collectors need to exercise extreme caution. If you own a piece of Chinese porcelain and have never had it valued – now might be a good time to visit an auctioneer for a free valuation.

To view the full article, please go to:

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/fine-art-antiques/rising-china-why-a-chinese-vase-made-740-000-at-auction-1.3126959

Sotheby's Plunges After Second-Quarter Results Miss Estimates By Katya Kazakina

Sotheby’s plunged the most in nine months after second-quarter earnings missed estimates due to higher expenses.

The New York-based auction house of fine art and collectibles reported a 14 percent decline in profit for the period ended June 30, according to a statement Thursday. Net income slid to $76.9 million from a year earlier even as the company sold the most expensive artwork of 2017 in May -- a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting for $110.5 million.

Chief Executive Officer Tad Smith said on a conference call that the art market “is healthy and efficient but neither frothy nor depressed.” Masterpieces that are fresh to the market result in “eye-popping" prices while lesser works need “realistic” prices to sell.

Like rival Christie’s, Sotheby’s saw an increase in high-priced lots. The number of works priced at more than $1 million rose 5 percent during the first half of the year. The number of buyers and sellers in that price range increased by 10 percent and 13 percent, respectively, he said. Private sales for the first half rose 34 percent to $333.8 million.

Sotheby’s reported adjusted earnings of $1.44 a share, compared to the $1.51 average estimate of five analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Revenue of $314.9 million slightly missed the estimate even as it increased 5 percent.

Expenses rose almost 20 percent. The company attributed this to the projected payment of target bonuses for employees and investment in areas such as technology, digital marketing and specialist expertise. Also with more higher-priced works in the mix, Sotheby’s auction commission margin was largely flat for the quarter at 16.3 percent.

The shares slid 8.3 percent to $51.15 at 4 p.m. in New York, the biggest decline since November 2016. On July 25, Sotheby’s closed at a record $57.70.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-03/sotheby-s-plunges-after-second-quarter-results-miss-estimates

Why Genghis Khan's Tomb Can't Be Found by By Erin Craig

Genghis Khan (known in Mongolia as Chinggis Khaan) once ruled everything between the Pacific Ocean and the Caspian Sea. Upon his death he asked to be buried in secret. A grieving army carried his body home, killing anyone it met to hide the route. When the emperor was finally laid to rest, his soldiers rode 1,000 horses over his grave to destroy any remaining trace.

In the 800 years since Genghis Khan’s death, no-one has found his tomb.

A possible lead in a forbidden location

Folklore holds that Genghis Khan was buried on a peak in the Khentii Mountains called Burkhan Khaldun, roughly 160km north-east of Ulaanbaatar. He had hidden from enemies on that mountain as a young man and pledged to return there in death. Yet there’s dissent among scholars as to precisely where on the mountain he’d be ‒ if at all.

“It is a sacred mountain,” acknowledged Dr Sodnom Tsolmon, professor of history at Ulaanbaatar State University with an expertise in 13th-Century Mongolian history. “It doesn’t mean he’s buried there.”Scholars use historical accounts to puzzle out the location of Genghis Khan’s tomb. Yet the pictures they create are often contradictory. The 1,000 running horses indicate a valley or plain, as at the Xiongnu graveyard. Yet his pledge pins it to a mountain. To complicate matters further, Mongolian ethnologist S Badamkhatan identified five mountains historically called Burkhan Khaldun (though he concluded that the modern Burkhan Khaldun is probably correct).

Honouring a warrior’s final wish

With the tomb seemingly out of reach, why does it remain such a controversial issue in Mongolia?

Genghis Khan is simply Mongolia’s greatest hero. The West recalls only what he conquered, but Mongolians remember what he created. His empire connected East and West, allowing the Silk Road to flourish. His rule enshrined the concepts of diplomatic immunity and religious freedom. He established a reliable postal service and the use of paper money. Genghis Khan didn’t just conquer the world, he civilised it.

The full article is available at the link below:

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170717-why-genghis-khans-tomb-cant-be-found

China Bans Looted Antiques from Going Under Hammer at Mainland Auction Houses by Nectar Gan

China has banned the auction of antiques looted from the country throughout history in its latest regulation on cultural relic auctions. The document, issued by the State Administration on Cultural Heritage on October 20 and released on its website on Monday, stated that all cultural relics that were stolen, illegally unearthed, smuggled or looted from China would be banned from being auctioned in the country.

It also said the Chinese government had priority in buying precious antiques. According to the regulation, the administration can appoint state-owned relic collection agencies to procure such pieces from their consignors at an agreed price. Those artefacts would no longer be accepted for auction.

The new regulation replaces a temporary rule on the auction of cultural relics that the administration issued in 2003, which banned the auction of antiques “with disputes regarding their right of disposition”.

The new version replaced that clause with much stronger wording that explicitly bans the auction of “historically looted Chinese relics”.

Internet commenters were quick to point out that the regulation applies only to auction houses on mainland China, while most valuable Chinese antiques are sold in overseas markets, such London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, about 1.67 million Chinese relics are housed in more than 200 museums across 47 countries.

The Chinese Cultural Relics Society said China had lost more than 10 million antiques since 1840 due to wartime looting and illegal excavations.

China has in the past resorted to bidding in overseas markets to recover its lost national treasures.

In 2000, the Poly Art Museum, owned by the state-owned Poly Group, won the bidding at Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions in Hong Kong for three bronze heads looted from the old Summer Palace in Beijing by British and French troops in 1960.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2042322/china-bans-looted-antiques-going-under-hammer-mainland

Want FREE Advice/Opinion on Your Collection?

Dear readers, 

We've had collectors contacting us from time to time seeking our opinion on their private collection. As such,  I'm pleased to announce that we recently created a group called Chinese Ceramics and Collectibles Forum with the sole purpose of sharing photos, ideas and opinions. All you have to do is:

1. Join Chinese Ceramics and Collectibles Forum.
2. Wait for request to be approved.
3. Upload photos.

So, if you or any of your family or friends are seeking FREE opinion or advice on their collection, pls feel free to share this with them. 

Regards

May Naik

A $100 Million Mystery: A Russian, His Art, and His Big Losses By Katya Kazakina and Hugo Miller

It was meant to be one of the world’s top collections of 20th century art, anchored by Amedeo Modigliani nudes and Claude Monet water lilies.

But two years after Dmitry Rybolovlev sued his dealer, alleging he was overcharged by as much as $1 billion, the Russian fertilizer magnate is unloading works he acquired at often record prices. He has already sold three for a loss totaling an estimated $100 million, and is offering five more at Christie’s auctions in London starting next week, some for a fraction of their purchase prices.

Rybolovlev—whose fortune totals about $9.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index—invested about $2 billion in 38 works, from Leonardo da Vinci to Pablo Picasso. They were procured privately by Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier, better known for creating a network of tax-free art storage warehouses in Singapore and Luxembourg.

Rybolovlev was among new buyers from Russia, China and other emerging economies who drove an unprecedented expansion of the art market in the past decade. Booming wealth created a network of collectors hungry for trophies by top modern and contemporary Western artists and willing to pay almost anything. Between 2003—the year Rybolovlev met Bouvier—and 2014, global sales more than tripled to $68 billion.

Since then, the market has contracted, and some of the art world’s most expensive pieces have been resold for less than their purchase price, mired in lawsuits and investigations.

Two Rybolovlev trusts in the British Virgin Islands recouped “less than $50 million” when the Russian sold Paul Gauguin’s “Otahi,” according to court papers they filed in New York. That’s about 60 percent below the $120 million Rybolovlev paid. In November 2015, he sold Gustav Klimt’s “Wasserschlangen II” for $170 million, down from the $183.8 million purchase price. In May 2016, his Auguste Rodin sculpture, “L’Eternel Printemps,” fetched $20.4 million, an auction record for the artist but less than a half the $48.1 million he paid.

* For the full story, pls go to:
 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-23/a-100-million-mystery-a-russian-his-art-and-his-big-losses