A rare pair of Chinese huanghuali armchairs formerly owned by Solomon Adler, a U.S. Treasury official accused of Soviet espionage who became an economic adviser to Chairman Mao, sold for £774,240 at Roseberys - nearly twenty times over their £40,000 high estimate.
The continuous yoke back armchair, often known as the “official’s hat chair”, is a classical form in Chinese hardwood furniture. The design’s flowing crest rail and arms exemplify the simplicity prized in late Ming and Qing dynasty craftsmanship. These examples are particularly rare, being constructed with square members, as opposed to more common round members.
There were ten bidders on the phone, predominantly from China and Hong Kong. Bidding started at £40,000, followed immediately by a phone bid of £100,000. The gavel almost fell at £580,000, but a further phone bidder swooped in at the last second.
Bill Forrest, Head of Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art at Roseberys, said: “Works of art like these chairs rarely come with such a singular personal history. Adler was a complex figure; these chairs are a reflection of his extraordinary life.”
The chairs formed part of the personal collection of Solomon Adler (1909-1994), which sold for a hammer total of £808,900. Huanghuali furniture from the collection generally performed highly, with a rare 18th century Chinese huanghuali plank-top pedestal table selling for £69,140 against a £6,000 - £8,000 estimate. Plank-top tables were composed of demountable components, making them easy to transport and configure. Often over time these components were separated from each other either to serve as different functional items of furniture or to be used in the repair of other pieces of furniture. As such, surviving examples are quite rare.
Solomon Adler shaking hands with Chairman Mao. Courtesy of PFS.
Born in England to a Jewish family from Belarus, Adler studied economics at Oxford and University College London before joining the U.S. Treasury in 1936.
The huanghuali armchairs sold for £774,240 (including buyer’s premium)
During the 1940s he served as the department’s chief representative in China, where he reportedly developed close ties with senior Communist Party leaders including Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai and began collecting Chinese furniture.
Upon returning to the US, Adler was identified in investigations by Whittaker Chambers and defector Elizabeth Bentley as a Soviet intelligence source. He resigned from the Treasury in 1950 and returned to the UK, lecturing at Cambridge University and publishing The Chinese Economy in 1957.
Further works from the Solomon Adler collection
In 1962, at the invitation of Zhou Enlai, Adler relocated permanently to Beijing, where he worked as an economic adviser and translator of Mao’s writings until his death in 1994.
Roseberys’ Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art auction on Tuesday 4 November was the first time the collection has appeared on the open market or been seen by the public.
The Feng-Chun Ma Collection
Running alongside Roseberys’ regular November Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian auctions was the single-owner sale: 1000 Years of 100 Boys: The Feng-Chun Ma Collection.
Assorted objets d'art from the Feng-Chun Ma Collection
Feng-Chun Ma is a distinguished scholar-collector who has worked in the East Asian Antiques trade for over four decades. The collection comprised 102 objets d’art related to the Chinese motif of “boys at play” (yingxitu), symbolising the auspicious wish for many sons and the continuation of family lineage. Objects span from early Song dynasty ceramics to Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain, jade carvings, bronzes, snuff bottles and textiles.
It hammered above estimate for £242,330, with the top lots in the sale selling predominantly to buyers based in China, although interest was strong from the Netherlands, the UK and Austria.
Lot 9: A Chinese blue and white stem bowl, Ming dynasty, Wanli period
Price Realised: £31,440
Highlights of the sale included a Wanli period blue and white stem bowl, which sold for £31,440 against an £8,000 - £15,000 estimate, and a fine inscribed famille rose 'three star gods' stem cup from the Yongzheng period which realised a price of £18,368.
Lot 38: A fine inscribed famille rose 'three star gods' stem cup, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period
Price Realised: £18,368
The collection was exhibited at the International Antiques Fair in Hong Kong, before making its London debut at Bowman Sculpture Gallery during Asian Art in London. A private view and winding stream party was held to celebrate the collection, featuring a talk by Feng-Chun Ma and Bill Forrest, Head of Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art at Roseberys.
Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art Highlights
Further highlights from Part I and Part II of Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art included a rare and finely-enamelled Chinese famille rose ‘hundred boys’ vase, which realised a price of £60,040. It belongs to a group of wares produced at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen during the early years of the reign of Emperor Jiaqing. The shape is heavily reminiscent of Qianlong-era vases decorated with the same motif, with similarly high sloping shoulders and tall cylindrical necks painted with lotus blooms and twin-fish.
Lot 190: A rare and finely-enamelled Chinese famille rose ‘hundred boys’ vase, Qing dynasty, Jiaqing mark and period
Price Realised: £60,040
An 18th century portrait of Portrait of Yun Dong-do 윤동도 by an anonymous Korean artist sold for £34,040 against a £2,000-£3,000 estimate. Yun Dong-do (1707–1768) of the Papyŏng Yun clan rose through the state examinations to hold some of the highest offices of the Joseon court, eventually serving as Chief State Councillor. His career spanned posts in the censorial and advisory bureaus, and he was remembered as a principled official closely tied to the political life of mid-18th century Korea.
Lot 333: Anonymous, Korea, 18th/19th century, Portrait of Yun Dong-do 윤동도（尹東度）(1707-1768)
Price Realised: £34,040
Portrait albums of the late Joseon dynasty (18th–19th century) reflect the enduring importance of official portraiture as a marker of service, lineage and moral example. Produced in a Neo-Confucian cultural climate, these images were not intended as casual likenesses but as visualisations of virtue. Such albums were commissioned both by the royal court and by prominent families.
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