The five-day auction, starting Oct. 3, may even exceed that target as Asia’s stock-market rebound encourages buying, especially by those living on the mainland, said dealers. The 2,300 items include a Chinese imperial blue-and-white Ming bowl that may fetch HK$42 million.

“Top art collectors in China are in a mood to buy, especially rare antiques,” said Lu Feifei, a Shanghai-based art dealer and one of the biggest buyers at Sotheby’s sale last year when he paid HK$59 million for Emperor Qianlong’s jade-hilted saber and scabbard. “The bowl’s HK$42 million tag is reasonable; I wouldn’t be surprised if the final price goes much higher.”

Buyers are preferring antiques over contemporary-art pieces, believing older artworks are better stores of value with the economic recovery just beginning, said Lu. Auction companies such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s International face sluggish sales in Europe and the U.S., where economies are in a recession caused by the credit crunch. The estimated value of London’s October contemporary-art sales has dropped 81 percent from 2008.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong sale last year, held three weeks after Lehman’s Sept. 15 failure, raised HK$1.1 billion, half its forecast. The region’s benchmark Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Index has risen 40 percent in the past six months.

Consignment Increase
A 50 percent increase in consignments at this auction compared with the company’s sale six months ago is another sign of Asia’s art-market rebound, Kevin Ching, Sotheby’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview.

“When people believe the market is recovering,” said Ching, “then they will have no problem parting with the good stuff because they will get a good price for it.”

Auctions of Asia-themed items in New York earlier this month did well, said auctioneers. More than 70 percent of Sotheby’s lots sold, netting $19.3 million, while 83 percent of lots at Christie’s Chinese ceramics auction found buyers. Single-owner auctions were exceptionally successful at this New York series of Asia-art auctions, with buyers for nearly every item previously owned by the late philanthropist and physician, Arthur M. Sackler, statements from Sotheby’s and Christie’s show.

Sotheby’s sees Asia’s art market recovering faster than other parts of the world, with quality consignments such as the imperial bowl showing returning confidence, said Ching, 53.

Museum Pieces
The flower-designed bowl, from the era of Emperor Chenghua (reign: 1464-1487), is one of two in private hands, while 11 others are in museums in Asia outside China and Europe, said Sotheby’s. It was last sold in the city, also by the New York- based company, for about HK$30 million in 2006, said Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s head of Chinese ceramics and works of art.

Other highlights of the auction include a mid-1950s, oil- on-isorel, “Lotus et Poissons Rouge” (“Lotus and Red Fish”) by deceased Chinese master Sanyu. The 116.8 centimeter-by-179 centimeter artwork, not seen by the public in half a century, is expected to fetch as much as HK$25 million, Sotheby’s says. In May, Christie’s sold an oil painting, “Cat and Birds” by Sanyu for an artist record of HK$181.7 million in Hong Kong.

Another top lot is a throne made of Zitan wood for Emperor Qianlong (reign: 1736-1796), which is expected to fetch up to HK$30 million. The throne has a matching daybed in Beijing’s Palace Museum.

Attractive Estimates
“Many items are rightly-priced and there are a few bargains in the ceramics category,” said Lu, 32. The low estimates may attract fierce bidding that drives prices up, said Lu, who buys for himself and mainland Chinese clients, many of whom are entrepreneurs and bankers.

Ching said estimates in some categories remain at the low levels of six months ago, when Asia was still roiled by the credit crisis. Contemporary-art pieces are priced between 20 percent and 30 percent less than their 2007 peak, he said.
Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guoqiang’s 4 meter-by-6 meter gunpowder-and-ink work “Money Net No. 3” has a top estimate of HK$5.5 million.

Hong Kong, the third-largest art market after New York and London, hosts biannual auctions by Sotheby’s and Christie’s that are considered barometers of industry sentiment. Christie’s starts its Hong Kong fall sale in late November.

NEW YORK — Any trends in the American market for Asian antiques were eclipsed by Asia Week in New York last month when, suddenly, the appetite for Chinese art and antiques could not be sated.
For five days, the market went from healthy and vibrant to hotter than the surface of the sun. The dollar may be weak, and America may be in a recession, but there was a lot of what can only be called "irrational exuberance" — and money spent — particularly at the auction houses.
"They were not the best sales in terms of merchandise, but they were the best sales ever in terms of prices," said Richard Littleton of Littleton & Hennessy, dealers in Chinese art and antiquities in New York and London.
Conor Mahony, director of the Chinese Porcelain Company in New York, was even more candid: "There was nothing extraordinary for sale, but things made extraordinary prices."
It was standing-room-only at the Chinese art auctions, which began Sept. 14. Buyers from mainland China new to New York competed so hard for so many lots that the Manhattan, London and Hong Kong dealers tended to drop out of the bidding early on. (Top dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi of London was one of the few who successfully persevered.)
"It's an entirely new game," said Littleton. "Asia Week moved the goal posts. The market for Chinese art is very fluid, and a lot of money is coming into it."
More than twice, in his enthusiasm one mainland dealer inadvertently out-bid himself, causing laughter in a packed sale room, as the auctioneer politely pointed out that the last bid was his.
Bidding was most animated in the room, on the Internet and phone when a piece had an imperial connection or came from a famous old collection.
"The high prices paid by Asian buyers reflect the fact there is a diminishing amount of fresh material anywhere on the market," said Mahony. "Asian buyers especially like old American collections because they know they haven't been messed with — there have been so many fakes made in the last 20 years."
Bidding wars were frequent.
“People love a good provenance and good international competition,” said dealer Bryan Chow of Trio Art in Hong Kong. "The hunger for Chinese art is getting bigger and, as there is no history of prices, we accept new prices. I think they will continue to go higher."
Grace Wu Bruce, a longtime dealer of Ming furniture in Hong Kong, explained the situation by analogy: "Lots of people would like to own Picassos, so the prices keep going up,"
For example, in Christie's various- owners sale, an elaborately carved zitan wood inkstone stand and cover inscribed with a Qianlong poem, seal and the date 1778 was estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. It was the top lot of one of the Christie's sales, going for $1.4 million to an Asian buyer.
"Chinese art has become a vehicle for investment for the Chinese because there are so few options," said Bruce, known as "the Queen of huanghuali'' (referring to the prized Chinese wood found in the Ming furniture she sells).
At Sotheby's Bruce bought a 17th-century huanghuali wood side table with unusually stylized brackets for $55,000 (estimate: $25,000 to $35,000) because she knew it was similar to one in the Palace Museum in Beijing (which, she hopes, might want it).
I t has been a year since the recession-scarred auction houses witnessed such exuberance. It briefly felt like old times in New York.
Christie's dominated with $36.5 million in Asian art sales achieved, outdoing Sotheby's total of $19.2 million.
Both houses boasted Chinese art consigned by relatives of the American psychiatrist Arthur M. Sackler, considered a golden provenance because there are Sackler museums at Harvard University and at Peking University in Beijing as well as Sackler wings at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Not all of the Sackler consignments were stellar, especially the Ming furniture the Sacklers lived with, but it didn't seem to matter.
Sotheby's sold 40 lots of furniture and 45 works of art from the Sacklers for $4.6 million, triple the presale high estimate of $1.5 million. The top 10 lots all went to Asians.
The top lot, a rare pair of 17th-century huanghuali compound cabinets with stands estimated at $120,000 to $180,000, sold for $1 million.
Christie's did even better with its 115-lot sale, 97 percent sold by lot, of Sackler art consigned by a different branch of the family. An Asian bid $362,500 for a bronze ritual food vessel, Early Western, Zhou dynasty, 12th-11th-century BC (estimate $20,000 to $30,000), the top lot.
An American dealer bought the third highest lot: an incredible jade pendant depicting a black cicada on a white pea pod, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). It made $128,500 (against a high estimate of $30,000).
In the various owners sale, Sotheby's sold an Asian collector a carved jade vase and cover from the Qing dynasty, Qianlong period, for $926,000 (estimate $250,000 to $300,000).
An Asian dealer bought a 12-panel black-lacquer coromandel screen made for the Western market that is now on its way back East. Estimated at $80,000 - $120,000, it sold for $602,500, an auction record for a coromandel screen.
The screen's recent history could serve as an inflation index for Chinese art: A New York gallery had sold the screen to an American about 10 years ago for $95,000.
Can the American market maintain this pitch?
The American market for Japanese art is steady but not nearly as hot, though New York dealers specializing in Japanese saw solid results during Asia Week.
Joan Mirviss sold 85 percent of her show of contemporary art ceramics by Japanese superstar Ogawa Machiko. Koichi Yanagi sold ink paintings, antique lacquer boxes and bronze sculptures.
Sebastian Izzard sold six of the seven paintings he spent 11 years accumulating for a small exhibition on Keisai Eisen, a Ukiyo-e School artist who dominated the market for paintings of beauties in the early 19th century. Erik Thomsen sold several scroll paintings, and Leighton Longhi sold two sets of screens.
"All the Japanese dealers were pleased with Asia Week this time," Longhi said.
Results at the Japanese art auctions were mixed. Christie's sale of Japanese and Korean art achieved $2.9 million, but only 57 percent of the lots sold. The top lot was an "O-Meibutsu," a large brown stoneware tea-leaf storage jar from China (Southern Song/Yuan dynasty, 13th-14th century).
The jar, documented by generations of tea masters, was already in Japan by 1587 and named Chigusa (Myriad of Flowers). Dealer Yanagi bought it on behalf of an unnamed American museum for $662,500 (estimate: $100,000-$150,000).
Bonhams had its first-ever Japanese auctions in New York, with uneven success. A weak various-owners sale sold only 51 percent of its 170 lots, for a total of $727,801. However, the widely publicized sale of 277 netsuke miniature sculptures from the collection of Bluette H. Kirchhoff of California fared better, with 91 percent sold, for a total of $1.7 million.
"The Japanese auctions this time were not a good reflection of the market," said Izzard, the under bidder for the tea storage jar. "The best things always sell here."

From ornate Chinese chests to casual Burmese chairs, Asian-inspired design offers a range of styles that can be incorporated into any interior.

Asia, the world's largest continent, includes countries as culturally different as Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia; but, when most people think of Asian design, they think Oriental decor, specifically Japanese inspired Zen-like interiors.

"There are so many different Asian styles and they are all unique, just as English, French and Italian are different styles," said Mary Arnold, who, along with her husband, Joe Arnold, owns McLean-based East & Beyond LTD, which sells Chinese, Japanese and Korean antiques.

Japanese design uses natural materials, water features, straw mats, bamboo, stone and neutral-color palettes, and most of the furniture is low to the floor.

"You have to remember the Japanese did everything on the floor," Arnold said. "There were no chairs until the end of the 19th century. After that you see some of the Western influence. "

Soft floral patterns, such as cherry blossoms, often are used on pottery and in fabrics.
The clean-lined furniture makes Japanese design popular with minimalists and those who appreciate a more modern look. The Japanese futon, a favorite of space-deprived urban dwellers, can be used in bedrooms, living rooms and dens.

"Simplicity is the key with Asian design," said Joe Minor, owner of Creative Home Décor Services. Minor, who has traveled to Japan twice, created a Japanese-inspired backyard at his Alexandria town house. He used bamboo to cover a standard wooden fence and filled his yard with Asian elements, such as a water fountain, Bonsai tree, a mini statue of Buddha and lots of stones.

Minor is working with a client who collects ancient Chinese scrolls. The scrolls, which range from calligraphy to intricate scenes with animals, are being hung over bold-colored walls.

"Simplicity is the key." Minor said. "You don't want a lot of furniture. You want clutter-free with space to move around."
In Chinese-inspired design, the furniture pieces tend to be carved wooden designs with hand-painted details and lacquered surfaces. Accessories may feature animal motifs and mythological beasts, such as monkeys and dragons. Other elements often used are large folding screens, murals and plaques that depict historical characters. Red, which symbolizes good luck in Chinese culture, figures prominently, as does green, gold and "monk's robe" orange.

"Many of the ancient monasteries and temples were painted in these colors, and they are still prevalent today when traveling through these countries," said Barbara Hawthorn, president of Barbara Hawthorn Interiors in McLean. "In Japanese design, strong blues with whites and coral are also prevalent."

Southeast Asian style is more tropical, almost Polynesian. Countries in this part of Asia include the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Burma.

Monique Bergin, co-owner of the Banana Tree in Alexandria, specializes in Southeast Asian furniture and accessories. Her pieces come from Burma, Thailand and Indonesia.

The woods are more tropical. You see a lot of teak. Bergin said what separated East Asian from Southeast Asian design was what she calls "the human touch."

"With Japanese and Chinese design, they are attempting perfection. The finishes are usually polished. With Southeast Asian design, you see the imperfections," she said.

To make Asian decor work, it is important to not overdo it, Bergin said. "I wouldn't do an entire room in it," she said.
Where to start? Arnold recommends books, museums and the Internet. "There are lots of good books out there. And some of the Asian museums are great places to learn about what good Asian design is," Arnold said. A great internet site to begin your search is Asian Antique Bargains.

A good way to purchase Asian-inspired decor is to purchase quality pieces a little at a time. If you can't afford a Mongolian console, which can cost as much as $3,000, start with smaller accessories, such as antique Chinese baskets and boxes, which range from $40 to $300. A hand-carved Qing Dynasty-style red Su-Chow cabinet from Southern China can cost from $700 to $1,600. If you want an authentic antique Asian dining room, a rustic-looking Korean Maru dining table, made of Asian pine, costs from $2,000 to $4,000. To capture the look for less, invest in dining chairs, such as an antique bride's chair from China, made of elm with lacquer finish, or a horse chair. These look great at the head of a table and can cost $450 each.

For both novice and experienced collectors, Chicago's semiannual antiques fair features pieces from over 100 international dealers specializing in myriad genres and styles, including Americana, Asian art and antiquities, decorative arts, folk art and glasswork. And while perusing the goods will be your first priority, there are also special events and lecture series scheduled for those eager to learn more about antiques. Speakers include interior decorator Darryl Carter and design writer Tate Gunnerson, who will discuss ways to incorporate antiques into a modern home.

Tickets for the Oct. 1 sneak preview are $50. General admission Oct. 2-5 is $15. For more information, visit www.merchandisemartantiques.com.

I came across another reference to an upcoming auction in Shanghai where a rosewood chess board and pair of chairs has a reserve of approximately $25,000.

Compared to western antiques of similar periods, Chinese furniture represents good value and with good pieces becoming increasingly rare to secure they can only increase in value and desirability.

Sotheby’s autumn auction season in New York kicked off this morning with a sale of Fine Chinese Furniture, Works of Art and Carpets from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, which brought $4,615,054 and tripled the presale estimate of $1/1.5 million. The sale was 95.4% sold by lot and 99.5% sold by value and was led by A Rare and Important Pair of Huanghuali Compound Cabinets and Two-Drawer Stands from the 17th century, which brought $1,022,500 against a presale estimate of $120/180,000. The day continued with a various-owner sale of Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, which again exceeded pre-sale expectations to bring $10,917,425 (est. $5.1/7.1 million) and was 74.9% sold by lot and 90.9% sold by value. The two sales brought a combined total of $15,532,479 (combined est. $6.2/8.6 million).

Speaking about the sales, Dr. Caroline Schulten, Head of Sotheby’s Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Sales, North America, said, “We were incredibly pleased with the results of today’s two sales. We saw a high sell-through rate in both sales, reinforcing our strategy of offering clients well-edited sales of high-quality works. In fact, 70% of the lots sold in our various owner sale achieved prices above the high estimate. While our top buyers in both sales today came from Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China, we saw active participation and strong underbidding from our European and American clients. We were also excited to see many new collectors from around the world emerging in the market.”

The antique auction rooms have reported, that so far, they continue to be very busy. There has always been and probably always will be, new collectors interested in owning high quality works of art. But the best Asian antiques have done particularly well, as there are such limited numbers of rare quality items available and such a very large growing demand.
The Chinese in China having become wealthier and are very keen to collect, or invest in, fine examples of their own heritage. The result is a growth of new antique auction houses all over China (many of these sell huge numbers of antiques, thousands at each auction, so much more than is normal in Europe or America). But added to this many of the Chinese outside China have become extremely wealthy too and they have added to this growing demand for the scarcest important Asian antiques whenever offered worldwide.

The Internet too has been partly responsible for creating an even greater interest, introducing new collectors, or investors, from countries such as China, Russia and India. It is now possible to so easily study photographs and price guides, at the Internet auctions held frequently, as well as to check with dealers, who have an online presence, enabling growing numbers to keep an eye on the marketplace and current values.

These are some of the reasons for prices continuing to rise and for the large number of new record auction prices that have been achieved even over the last twelve months. The media always concentrates on the financial bad news and there is hardly ever any mention of these record prices that keep surprising us all. No one can guarantee what will happen in the future, but provided the following guidance is taken, then any of the risks involved in buying antiques will be greatly reduced.
(1) Study the subject carefully, obtain advice and be sure you are really interested and enjoy whatever you decide to collect.
(2) Only purchase the very highest quality that you can afford. High quality is far more important than quantity.
(3) Buy from the most reputable of specialists, as they will be prepared to guarantee the authenticity, the age and possibly even the provenance.

Regardless of any financial turmoil the best and most important antiques, or works of art, have always in the past remained a stable form of investment that continued to rise.

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Chicago native Trapper Cramer always kidded friends that he owned a million-dollar collection of rare carved artifacts from China. None of them really believed him.
They do now.

When the North Carolina-based artist, 59, and his wife, Jinx Taylor, brought some family heirlooms to a Raleigh, N.C., taping of PBS' "Antiques Roadshow," they were floored to learn the truth about their collection of carved jade that dates to the 18th century Chien Lung Dynasty.

According to poker-faced "Roadshow" appraiser James Callahan, four of the most valuable pieces are worth a total of $710,000 to $1.07 million. Conservatively.

The episode is slated to air sometime in January.
Little more than sentimental eye candy for decades, the pieces were gifts from Taylor's late father, a former military intelligence agent and, Cramer says, "a liaison for top [American] brass dealing with top Chinese government officials" who acquired the pieces inexpensively overseas during World War II.

Until last week, the collection had "been sitting around our living room for 20 years. Now it's all in lock boxes in our bank," says Cramer, who lived in the Chicago area until age 14. Born and partly reared in Ravenswood Gardens, he went to Queen of Angels School (where he got "beat by the nuns most every day") and still has scads of family members in the beloved city of his youth.
Now, he jokes, "I'm sleeping with a shotgun next to my bed."

"Antiques Roadshow" executive producer Marsha Bemko says the sky-high appraisal is a show record, doubling the previous one (for a 1937 Clyfford Still painting featured in 2008) of $500,000.

"The interesting thing to keep in mind is that our auctioneers or dealers tend to be very conservative in their value," Bemko says, "and that's just the nature of how this business works. They hate to overestimate for business reasons. It doesn't encourage people to buy."

Callahan, who is director of Asian works of art for Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers in Boston (where "Roadshow" is produced), agreed. He says the collection could fetch even more than his top-end estimate because the market is "very, very strong for this type of artwork." There's even a chance the Chinese government might want to buy it back.

"We sold a jade Buddha that was about 14 inches in height," he offers by way of analogy. "It was 18th, 19th century. The color was who cares, the quality of the carving was who cares. It came from an old collection, but it had absolutely no imperial association whatsoever. And it sold for $383,000."

Just one of the couple's items, a carved bowl with an imperial inscription (indicating that it belonged to the reigning emperor), "could sell [for] in excess of a million dollars."

Cramer said it took some convincing before his wife agreed to be interviewed on air. The "Roadshow" producers, he thinks, probably figured they'd get more emotion out of her than him. And tears did flow -- but not hers.
"I'm bawling," Cramer said of his reaction to the news while watching on a television screen from the backstage green room. "Some lady's bringing me Kleenex and I'm sniffling and wiping my eyes. Everybody's patting me on the back and [saying] 'congratulations.' And all I'm thinking of is, 'My God, we're not safe anymore. This stuff isn't safe. We have to sell it now. We can't keep it around the house.' And that has been just a terrible thing for us."

That's not to say Cramer and Taylor aren't thrilled with the stellar financial news. Their friends "are real happy for us, too," he said.

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