 Sale 16868 - Fine Chinese Art
New Bond Street, 5 Nov 2009
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Sale 16868
Lot 1
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ARCHAIC BRONZES
from the Cunliffe Collection (lots 1-25)
Material Differences: The Cunliffe Bronzes
Family legend has it that my father, Rolf Cunliffe, started his collection of Chinese artworks by buying a piece as a birthday present for his brother - but then kept it. As a RAF officer stationed in London during the latter part of World War II, and with all his family evacuated to America, he needed a distraction in his time off duty. His curiosity and appreciation of fine things soon turned that distraction into an absorbing passion.
From his eyrie in Carlos Place it was only a few steps to Bluetts, and Sparks could be seen from his window. With the end of the war, the forays continued. A countryman at heart, my father always had his city suits made with a 'poacher's pocket'. How better to discreetly bring home a formidable-looking bronze dagger. And once home, then what? The flat was small, and anyway he liked to limit the display. So pieces were changed about frequently, and then returned to the celadon-green steel office cabinets squeezed into his bathroom. Thus it was that visiting collectors like the King of Sweden would spend happy hours sitting with my father on the edge of the bath while discussing the finer points of an archaic gui or a pair of inlaid belt buckles.
To the layman, Chinese art may conjure up images of highly decorated ceramics, and delicate paintings. To the connoisseur, it means much more. The Cunliffe Collection did contain some highly decorated porcelain and a very few paintings, but the main body was a thoughtful balance of jades, ceramics of all periods, and bronzes.
Three very different materials, each with its own behaviour, history and techniques, and each responding to the craftsman's hand in a different way. Likewise, the materials have an individual effect on the beholder's eye, hand – and ear. Their surfaces look and feel different, they weigh differently in the hand and, if struck, they ring with their own note – or not at all. The potential of each is unique to it. The exquisite form of a gu would be hard to replicate in clay, as would the crispness of its casting. And whilst many ceramics strive for lightness and uplift, bronzes sit four-square and solid. Metals also contain a time dimension. Patination - surface change – is far more pronounced that with ceramics or jade. There is a 'hidden hand' that takes over after the maker's hand has let go.
The bronzes were therefore a powerful element in the collection, whether richly decorated like a kuei or with the simple elegance of a halberd. Their narrow colour spectrum contrasted with Tang and Ming glazes. Their forms delighted the eye whilst their iconography challenged the intellect. They adorned and enriched the collection.
Forming the collection was an important part of my father's post-war life: a clear focus when so much was in flux. He enjoyed the great fraternity of connoisseurs, discussions about 'problem pieces', and the lively meetings at the Oriental Ceramic Society. A Cambridge graduate, he was delighted when invited to become the Honorary Keeper of the Far Eastern Collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum - a post he held until his untimely death in 1963.
What kind of a collector was he? Shrewd: who else was buying fragile porcelain in London as the flying bombs rained down? And he had a thirsting intelligence, a discerning and well-tutored eye, a love of debate, a love of learning. But he was idiosyncratic too: precious artworks stored in the bathroom, and later in the stables of his country house; his mischievous humour; his unfathomably arranged catalogue. The variety of materials in his collection echoed his wide range of interests, and the very personal pattern of his life.
Roger Cunliffe
An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu Shang Dynasty, 13th century BC
Sold for £22,800 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 2
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A bronze ibex-headed dagger, ge Shang Dynasty
Sold for £2,400 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 3
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An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel, gu Shang Dynasty, 12th/11th century BC
Sold for £378,400 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 4
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An archaic bronze inscribed ritual food vessel, gui Late Shang/early Western Zhou Dynasty
Sold for £108,000 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 5
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A fine bronze halberd blade Eastern Zhou Dynasty
Sold for £3,000 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 6
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An archaic bronze ritual vessel, zhi Western Zhou Dynasty
Sold for £5,760 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 7
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An archaic bronze inscribed ritual vessel, zun Western Zhou Dynasty
Sold for £18,000 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 8
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An archaic bronze inscribed ritual food vessel, gui Early Western Zhou Dynasty
Sold for £490,400 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 9
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An archaic bronze ritual vessel, zhi Western Zhou Dynasty
Sold for £18,000 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale 16868
Lot 10
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A turquoise-inlaid gold tiger plaque Warring States Period, probably Ordos
Sold for £33,600 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Sale Contacts:
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Sale Viewings: |
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1 Nov 2009 11:00-15:00 New Bond Street
2 Nov 2009 09:00-16:30 New Bond Street
3 Nov 2009 09:00-16:30 New Bond Street
4 Nov 2009 09:00-16:30 New Bond Street
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Δ VAT at the prevailing
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AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium
† VAT at the prevailing
rate on hammer price and buyer's premium
Ω VAT on imported items at the prevailing
rate on hammer price and buyer's premium
* Goods subject to Import VAT at a preferential rate of
5%
o Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the hammer price
or the buyer's premium
Δ Wine lying in bond
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