The second Classical Chinese Paintings Sale at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on May 30 will include several fresh to the market pieces from major private collections, including the Mi Yun Hall Collection and Mo Boji Family Collection.For this edition, held at Island Shangri-La’s Island Ballroom, Sotheby’s is offering a selection of 70 lots dating back to the 11th century, with a total estimate of more than HK$50 million /($6.4 million).Principal among these are “The Lotus Sutra,” from the 14th century and seven volumes of Mahayana Buddhist scripture in gold calligraphy from an anonymous Yuan Dynasty scribe. This latter lot comes from the Mi Yun Hall, a Zhejiang private library and collections of rare books opened by scholar and entrepreneur Jiang Ruzao in the early 20th century (late Qing-Republic era).Also on offer from this library are letters from Song Dynasty official Zhan Wenjing (estimate HK$2-4 million, $260-510,000) that, according the Sotheby’s, serve “as a critical reference for studying the development of Chinese calligraphy.”Another named collection featuring in the sale is that of the Mo Boji family. Although Mo was first and foremost a book collector, the auction would include a number of paintings and works of calligraphy collected by the family, including Shen Shichong’s “Autumn Streams,” 1630, a handscroll featuring picturesque natural scenes that Sotheby’s has given an estimate of HK$500,000-700,000 ($64,000-90,000).These works join a larger selection of scrolls from the Song and Qing dynasties at this sale on May 30.“Classical Chinese Paintings Sale” takes place May 30, following an exhibition of the lots on May 28-29 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.
↧