Far Eastern art: a booming market
The market for works of art from Asia has been particularly buoyant for several years, with new discoveries and record auctions regularly taking place.
Far Eastern ceramics, lacquers, jades, ancient and contemporary paintings, enamels and other works of art have never ceased to fascinate collectors the world over.
CHINA
The arts of China are particularly noteworthy for their diversity and the mastery with which artists and craftsmen have developed unequalled skill and delicacy: precious lacquers, white and polychrome porcelain, divinities and gilded bronze, paintings on silk and rice paper, jade objects, Peking glassware, terracotta...
Trade between China and Europe has intensified since the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The Silk Road and the creation of the East India shipping companies enabled Europeans to bring together exceptional Chinese objects in their collections, some of which had been forgotten by their current owners.
Some recent rediscoveries :
- A porcelain vase from the DAOGUANG period (1821-1850) decorated in blue underglaze with cranes and deer, found in the collections of a French family, - €73,000 on 16 March 2022,
- An 18th-century Mongolian silk thangka (literally "thing that is unrolled", painting, drawing or fabric) depicting Guhyasamaja with three heads and six arms - €129,000 on 26 April 2023,
- An 18th-century gilt bronze Tibetan statue of Hayagriva on a lotus base - €138,000 on 26 April 2023.
JAPANJapanese culture is teeming with legends, chimeras and extraordinary characters that fuel the fertile imagination of artists.
Since the 16th century, when the Empire of the Rising Sun was discovered by Europeans, ships have brought back from Japan porcelain, intriguing albums of prints by artists including
HOKUSAÏ (1760-1849),
UTAMARO (1753-1806) and
HIROSHIGE (1797-1858), statuettes, okimonos and netsuke, lacquer objects collected by kings and connoisseurs from all over Europe.
The end of the 19th century saw the opening up of Japanese trade, which led to an increase in the export of goods and artistic products. France, among others, became fascinated by the strange creatures and characters that populated this world of ivory, bronze, jade and lacquer.
Here are just a few examples of the finesse of Japanese culture:
- Ivory Netsuke representing Ashinaga standing, wearing a loincloth, dating from the middle of the EDO period (1603-1868) - €15,000 on 15 December 2020,
- Exceptional collection containing the Hundred Views of Edo, a set of remarkable prints by Utagawa HIROSHIGE in the 19th century - €125,000 on 5 June 2018,
- A lacquered cabinet in the Namban style dating from the 19th century, decorated with chimeras under the plaqueminiers - €13,000 on 16 December 2019.
ASIA IN THE 20th CENTURYFor several years now, major Asian artists have occupied a prominent place on the international art market.
Vietnamese painting in particular is in the spotlight, thanks to record sales of works by artists such as LE PHO (1907-2001), MAI-THU (1906-1980) and PHAM HAU (1903-1995).
Contemporary Chinese art also takes centre stage, thanks to a number of visionary and poetic artists including ZAO WOU-KI (1920-2013) and CHU TEH-CHUN (1920-2014).
Some of the finest recent auctions :
- ZAO WOU-KI, 9.9.70, oil on canvas, 1970 - €502,000 on 29 March 2022
- CHU TEH-CHUN, Composition n° 136, gouache on paper - €61,000 on 20 June 2019.