Rare Chinese and European books, maps, photographs, and manuscripts from two significant collections will be auctioned off on November 7 at Sotheby’s London in a sale that is bound to attract history connoisseurs.The sale, titled “China in Print & on Paper,” will be the first of its kind in three decades. It reveals another, hidden side to China’s history of exploration and trade with the West over half a millennium. The core of the sale encompasses two single-owner collections — Belgian-born Bernard Hanotiau, and Floyd Sully from Canada — which have been amassed over many years.The former is offering 180 lots of historical documents, including cartographies, books, atlases, and early photographs. It illuminates the history of cultural and political exchange between China and the West from the 15th to the 20th century through the lens of Western explorers. Some of these works were even created by merchants, missionaries, adventurers, and diplomats, and “contain a wealth of knowledge that informed the West’s understanding of China, its people, culture, and geography,” according to a press release.The books presented possess impressive provenance, having been owned by key historical figures such as Tsar Nicholas I; Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma — the wife of Napoleon; and Madame Victoire de France, the daughter of Louis XV. A few highlights from this collection consist of a series of photographs by Thomas Child that capture scenes from everyday life in Beijing, as well as its architecture and its people. The lot of 80 original photographs is estimated at between £15,000 to £20,000. Hanotiau’s collection also includes the first European Atlas of China from 1655, based on the study of “the father of Chinese geography,” Italian Jesuit Martino Martini, who traveled to China in 1640. This lot is estimated at £12,000 to £18,000.The collection of Canadian collector Floyd Sully, comprised of 50 lots, depicts China’s history through the visual arts — drawings and watercolors, illustrated texts, and maps created in China, which demonstrate the development of modern China. Highlights include the large-scale “Blue Map” from the Qing Dynasty, appearing for the first time at auction, which is expected to sell for between £80,000 to £120,000; and a Daoist hanging scroll from the 19th century, estimated at £20,000 to £30,000.“China in Print & on Paper” will take place on November 7 at Sotheby’s, London.
↧