Quality items won the day at Rosebery’s recent June Quarterly Fine Art auction featuring Asian Arts. With a good cross-section of top quality lots, buyers from across the globe were bidding strongly on the telephone, internet and in the room.
Stars of the show in the Asian Arts section included Lot 1435 (pictured below) which sold for a hammer price of £20,000. This 18th century Chinese cloisonné incense burner was found less than a mile from Rosebery’s auction house while clearing a deceased estate. A UK-based dealer in the room fought it out with an Asian bidder on the telephone who eventually won the lot.
Another ‘local’ lot that did well was Lot 1368 (pictured below). This large Chinese carved ivory puzzle ball and ceiling rose had been carefully stored in a private home in Catford for many years. The owner’s late grandfather had been an antiques dealer in the 1920s and 1930s and had always said it would appreciate in value. He was proved right as Chinese buyers competed for it and an eventual hammer price of £6,400 was achieved.
From Japan to Greece to South London was quite a journey for these Satsuma pots. The Greek owner had a large collection of Meiji Satsuma-ware and, unsurprisingly in the current climate, wanted to sell them in London. The four lots achieved a combined hammer price of almost £10,000. Pictured below is Lot 1459 which on its own made £6,000.
Top selling lots in other sections of the auction included Lot 1743 (pictured below). This desirable George IV mahogany, circular extending dining table, achieved a hammer price of £18,000 mainly due to the original unaltered condition.
This Regency mahogany hall bench (Lot 1660 pictured below) achieved an impressive hammer price of £7,000 thanks, again to being in more or less original condition and with a possible attribution to an Irish maker.
It was great to see good ceramics returning to popularity. These lovely and rare, 19th century Queensware Game tureens (Lot 122 pictured below) fetched a very respectable £2,500.
Rosebery’s also had a very impressive private collection of Staffordshire, divided into 13 lots. These four 19th century Samson figures of the Continents (Lot 44, pictured below) were sold for a hammer price of £1,300.
In jewellery, diamonds, particularly diamond solitaire rings, are clearly still a girl’s best friend. Rosebery’s had a good range in this auction from around 1 to around 3 carats. Lot 375 (pictured below), a brilliant cut diamond of approximately 3 carats mounted in a white gold setting sold for a hammer price of £10,000.
Contemporary sculpture has become something of a regular feature at Rosebery’s auctions where it once again sold well this month. Lot 631(pictured below), a Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog, Blue’ sold for £4000, exceeding its top estimate and a good price for an edition of 2300.
Lot 740, ‘The Surrealist Angel’, 1984 by Salvador Dali, (pictured below) also exceeded its top estimate, fetching a hammer price of £3600. These sculptures are rarely offered for sale in the UK, the last one being at Phillips in 2001.
Lot 634 (pictured below), a Lorenzo Quinn bronze, ‘Heart and Soul’, signed and numbered 6/9 also achieved £3600.
