SOTHEBY’S ASIA WEEK TOTALS $37.4 MILLION
ACROSS 7 AUCTIONS IN NEW YORK

Sotheby’s New York Sales of Asian Art in September
Up 10.3% over 2019

LED BY:

300+ Chinese Works of Art
Originally Gifted by Florence & Herbert Irving
To The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Soar to $11.1 Million

Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy Sale
Highlighted by a Magnificent Handscroll in Cursive Script by Zhu Yunming
That Achieved $1.6 Million
Top Lot of Sotheby’s Asia Week New York –

Ancient Chinese Art from Stephen Junkunc III
Totals $11 Million
*Over $22 Million Achieved For Works from the Junkunc Collection Across 2018 and 2019 Asia Week Auctions*

SOTHEBY’S FALL AUCTIONS IN HONG KONG
BEGIN 5 OCTOBER

NEW YORK, 16 September 2019 – Sotheby’s bi-annual Asia Week sale series in New York concluded this weekend, with 900+ works sold for a total of $37.4 million – exceeding the series’ high estimate of $33.7 million. Comprising works across seven auctions and spanning 4,000 years of history, Asia Week was highlighted by an exceptional selection of Chinese Art originally gifted from Florence and Herbert Irving to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a magnificent handscroll in cursive script by Zhu Yunming, which achieved $1.6 million and was the top selling lot of the week. Below is a summary of the exceptional art and collections that drove these results.

Angela McAteer, Sotheby’s Head of Chinese Works of Art Department in New York, commented: “We are very pleased with the results of this season’s Asia Weeks auctions. Overall, works emerging from well-known and provenanced collections captured the attention and enthusiasm of the market, and we saw incredibly robust bidding on Chinese art on offer from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ancient art from the esteemed collection of Stephen Junkunc III, and works from a Pennsylvania cultural Institution.

CHINESE ART FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART:
THE FLORENCE AND HERBERT IRVING GIFT
Auction Total: $8.3 Million 

Our seasonal auctions of Important Chinese Works of Art opened with a series of dedicated sales, beginning with an outstanding offering of 120+ Chinese works of art originally gifted by philanthropists and renowned Asian art collectors Florence and Herbert Irving to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The auction achieved $8.3 million – more than double its high estimate of $3.8 million – with an exceptional 91.3% of all lots sold. The Met’s full proceeds from the sale will go into an Irving acquisition fund, to be used by the institution’s Department of Asian Art to continue the Irving legacy by seeking out artworks to further enhance the comprehensive nature of the institution’s holdings of Asian art.

The auction was led by A Massive Spinach-Green Jade ‘Dragon’ Washer, which fetched $1.3 million – more than eight times its high estimate of $150,000. Hewn from a massive jade boulder and carved to the exterior with powerful dragons writhing through swirling clouds and turbulent seas, the present washer can trace its form to an immense jade basin made 1265 and given to Khubilai Khan. The basin, sometimes referred to as the ‘Du Mountain washer’ or as a wine pot, is the earliest known jade carving of this monumental scale. It is carved from a single block of dark blackish-green jade, and measures approximately half a meter deep and up to 182 cm wide.

In March 2015, The Met announced the gift of 1,275 Asian works of art from Florence and Herbert Irving – a donation that fundamentally transformed the holdings of the museum’s Department of Asian Art, on the occasion of its centennial. At the time of their gift, the Irvings realized that a full assessment of their collection would take time, and that there would undoubtedly be many pieces that would unnecessarily duplicate works already in the collection. For that reason, they agreed that The Met could sell any of the works in their gift so long as the proceeds would go towards future acquisitions. The present sale is a fulfillment of that visionary goal.

JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA II
Auction Total: $4.6 Million

Following the success of Junkunc: Arts of Ancient China in March 2019, this season’s dedicated auction of ancient Chinese art from the renowned collection of Stephen Junkunc III achieved $4.6 million, surpassing the auction’s $3.5 million high estimate. Works from the Junkunc Collection have raised over $11 million at Sotheby’s in 2019, and over $22.3 million total across our 2018 and 2019 Asia Week auctions.

The offering of weapons, jade animals, gilt-bronzes and inlaid fittings was led by An Exceptional and Rare Beige and Brown Jade Camel from the Tang dynasty, which achieved $620,000 – more than double its $300,000 high estimate. Exquisitely rendered in a lifelike manner, the present figure belongs to a select group of jade camels portrayed in this particular curled pose. Traditionally linked with the Tang dynasty and the Silk Road routes, camels are more commonly portrayed in ceramic as majestic figures carrying foreigners or loaded with precious goods.  Naturally, they were associated with luxury and with the exotic, thus conferring status and wealth to their owners.

BODIES OF INFINITE LIGHT
FEATURING AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF BUDDHIST FIGURES
FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF THE CHANG FOUNDATION
Auction Total: $3.5 Million

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