RM 28 MILLION FOR A 11 CM BOWL IS EXTRAVAGANT OR WHAT, CONSIDERING YOU CAN BARELY FILL IT WITH INSTANT NOODLES!

KEE@FSWMAG.COM

CALL ME A PHILISTINE (AND MANY HAVE) BUT I STILL THINK RM 28 MILLION FOR A 11 CM BOWL IS A WEE TOO MUCH.

This bowl is only 11 cm so don't think it is the size of a bath tub where you can climb in and soak your aches away. This kind of photo can be very deceptive as it can be a metre high or 3 metres wide!

A diamond I can consider for RM 28 million since I can drop it and  chances are it won't smash into a hundredc pieces like this porcelain bowl. Or a house with a great view across Hong Hong's Victoria harbour. Or a decent flat in London, Paris and New York.

But there is already a queue (a small one but good enough) clamouring for this magnificent bowl but 'magnificent' refers to its provenance since at 11 cm, it cannot be that imposing or impressive like a Rolls-Royce or yacht.

SOTHEBY’S HONG KONG

FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART

SPRING SALES 2013 WILL BE HELD ON 8 APRIL

Highlighting A Magnificent Ruby-Ground Falangcai “Double-Lotus” Bowl

From The Kangxi Period From The Collection of Dr. Alice Cheng

(Expected To Fetch In Excess Of HK$70 Million / US$9 Million)

Hong Kong Public Exhibition 3 – 7 April | Auction 8 April

Sotheby’s Hong Kong is delighted to announce that the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Spring Sale Series 2013 will take place on 8 April 2013 at Hall 5, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.  Led by the single-lot sale - A Magnificent Falangcai Bowl From The Collection of Dr. Alice Cheng (pictured above), the sale also highlights two other prestigious private collections The Meiyintang Collection (Part V) - a fine selection of Chinese art from the Ming and Qing dynasties - and the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection – a spectacular group of scholarly art.  These three sales together with a various-owner sale offer over 300 lots with an estimated total value of over RM 240 million ( HK$600 million / US$78 million).

Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s Asia Deputy Chairman and International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, said, “We are privileged to present this season a magnificent falangcai bowl, one of the finest treasures from the collection of Shanghai-born businesswoman and philanthropist Dr. Alice Cheng.  Falangcai of the Kangxi reign – porcelains painted in the Imperial workshops of the Forbidden City in Beijing – rank among the rarest and most dazzling ceramic wares of the Qing dynasty.  The bowl is unique, in pristine condition and represents an extraordinary opportunity for collectors of great Chinese Imperial porcelain.”

A MAGNIFICENT FALANGCAI BOWL FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. ALICE CHENG

A Magnificent Ruby-Ground Falancai ‘Double-Lotus’ Bowl

Blue Enamel Yuzhi Mark And Period Of Kangxi

11 cm

Expected to fetch in excess of HK$70 million / US$9 million

Following the sale of a small group of exceptional Qing porcelains in October 2012, renowned collector and philanthropist Dr. Alice Cheng is offering another masterpiece from her collection. Dr. Alice Cheng, a Shanghai-born business woman, grew up surrounded by fine objects. Her parents were celebrated antique dealers, in whose footsteps her brother Robert would later follow and build an illustrious career in the field of Chinese art. Over the last 15 years, Dr. Cheng has put together a formidable collection of imperial Chinese porcelain, including the example offered.

Falangcai of the Kangxi reign are among the rarest and most dazzling ceramic wares of the Qing dynasty. Unlike most other wares of that period, they were individually produced and subject to close scrutiny by the Emperor, and each piece is unique.

The outstanding imperial falangcai ruby-ground “lotus bowl” with a blue enamel Kangxi yuzhi mark and of the period (1662-1722) is the only bowl recorded with this design. It represents one of the earliest pieces decorated in the newly introduced Western enamelling technique, yet already displays complete mastery of this complex new method of decoration. Once owned by Dr. Cheng’s brother, the celebrated antique dealer and collector, Robert Chang, the bowl first came to auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 1983 at the 10th Anniversary sale, and it is, therefore, most fitting that it reappears for Sotheby’s 40th Anniversary.