Displaying items by tag: porcelain

The Syndicat National des Antiquaires (SNA) -- or the French National Union of Antique Dealers -- announced that it will launch a new fair aimed at young collectors this spring. Paris Beaux-Arts, which will be held at the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground center adjacent to the Musee du Louvre, will complement the SNA’s prestigious Biennale des Antiquaires.

The long-running Biennale des Antiquaires, which is celebrated for its elegant atmosphere, blue chip offerings, and elite guest list, specializes in rare antiques, fine art, jewelry, silver, and porcelain. The SNA intends for Paris Beaux-Arts to be equal to the Biennale in quality and range, but with a stronger emphasis on modern and contemporary art.

A porcelain sculpture by the American artist Jeff Koons has been taken off display at his retrospective exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris amidst plagiarism allegations. A leading French ad company are claiming that the work of art was copied from a campaign dating back to the 1980’s.

The sculpture which has been valued at £15m depicts a woman caught in an avalanche, being rescued by a penguin, standing next to a pig, wearing a floral necklace, carrying a barrel, in the manner of a St Bernard rescue dog. The kitsch work of art has been realistically rendered and is titled "Fait d'Hiver” a play on words for "fait divers.”

Paris-based publicist Franck Davidovici is accusing American contemporary artist Jeff Koons of unlawfully copying a 1985 advertisement in a work on display in the French capital, the plaintiff's lawyer said Wednesday.

In the year 1400 a visitor from outer space would have probably concluded that the Chinese state was the most powerful and civilized on Planet Earth. Other places might have caught this fictional Venusian’s attention: Brunelleschi’s Florence, Mamluk Cairo, Iran, India, and Venice, for example. But in all manner of ways the Middle Kingdom was bigger, better organized, and more advanced.

Plenty of proof of these claims is to be seen in “Ming: Fifty Years that Changed China,” on view at the British Museum through January 5. This is a sumptuous display full of blue and white porcelain, paintings, lacquer-work, weapons, and luxurious objects of every kind. The British Museum, strictly speaking, is not a museum of art but of history. So this is an exhibition intended to teach visitors about a culture distant in time and space, about which most will know little. Accordingly, it is also dense with facts.

A monumental Fencai Imperial Qing Dynasty vase auctioned for $24.7 million at Skinner last night, setting a record as the top grossing lot ever sold in New England, and topping all sales of Qing Dynasty vases in the U.S. The Skinner "Asian Works of Art" auction coincides with Asia Week, and this vase has surpassed all other objects sold during the event to date.

An intensely focused and enthusiastic crowd packed the auction room, and most rose to their feet as the vase soared past the $10 million mark. After spirited bidding from multiple bidders present in the room and participating by phone, the hammer fell to a round of applause.

A pair of Chinese porcelain vases fetched $1.2 million; a 7-inch-tall celadon vase sold for $2.3 million and a bronze Buddha statue went for $485,000 -- all blowing past their presale estimates many times over.

So went the buying spree during Asia Week in New York this week as Chinese dealers and collectors packed the salesrooms and snapped up pieces of their cultural heritage. Auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams and Doyle New York are expected to tally $95 million.

Few people have ever visited Oak Spring Farms, the grand home here of Rachel Lambert Mellon, better known as Bunny. If they had, they would have seen a Pissarro, unframed like a flea market find, above the living room fireplace. Upstairs, a still life by van Gogh hung above her bathtub. Antique porcelains — cabbages, asparagus, artichokes — were artfully arranged on practically every surface.

Mrs. Mellon was the matriarch of an American dynasty whose fortune and art holdings rivaled that of the Fricks, Carnegies and Morgans. But perhaps most notably, she was a passionate collector of a bygone era. She didn’t pay attention to what was in fashion; she didn’t think about future financial returns.

On September 11, 2014, the 27th annual Biennale des Antiquaires will open to the public. The prestigious show, which is held at the Grand Palais in Paris, is celebrated for its elegant atmosphere, blue chip offerings, and elite guest list. A VIP preview was held on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, offering select patrons a sneak peek of the show’s treasure-trove of rare antiques, fine art, jewelry, silver, porcelain, and contemporary design.

This year’s Versailles-themed Biennale was designed by the celebrated French interior decorator Jacques Grange. A chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur, Grange recreated the royal gardens of Versailles under the Grand Palais’ iconic glass dome.

Shanghai-based art collector Liu Yiqian recently spent $36.3 million on a tiny porcelain cup with a humble chicken painted on its surface. But for many in China, the most shocking thing wasn’t the amount he paid, or the fact that he paid with an American Express card.

No, it was the fact that Mr. Liu decided to celebrate his Ming-dynasty purchase by sipping some tea from it.

The cup in question is one of China’s so-called “chicken cups,” which were forged in imperial kins and possess a particularly silky texture. Though fakes abound, only 19 genuine articles are known to exist. To art experts, they’re known as the “holy grail” of Chinese porcelains.

Masterpiece London, a high-end art and antiques fair offering an eclectic mix of paintings, design, furniture, and jewelry, kicked off its fifth edition with an exclusive preview on Wednesday, June 25 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The fair, which is located near London’s posh Chelsea neighborhood, got off to a strong start thanks to impressive sales and record attendance. Noteworthy visitors included collector Charles Saatchi, interior designers Ellie Cullman and Scott Snyder, fashion designers Zandra Rhodes and Tom Ford, and a number of museum leaders such as Jeffrey Munger, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Curator of European Porcelain, and Stephen Harrison, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Curator of Decorative Art and Design.

A positive tone was set early on when Symbolic and Chase (London) sold a 1912 Cartier Corsage for more than $20 million. Other sales highlights during the preview included a pair of chinoiserie cabinets by Vile and Cobb sold by Apter Fredericks (London) to an American collector for a seven figure sum; a portrait of the Countess of Craven sold by Elle Shushan (Philadelphia) to English actress Diana Rigg; and Lynn Chadwick’s “Back to Venice” sculpture that was sold by Osborne Samuel (London) for £250,000. Strong sales are expected to continue through the weekend.