593   Zhou Fang (after) "Court ladies wearing flower headdresses". Rong Bao Zhai, Beijing. 1954/ 1955.

Zhou Fang um 740 Chang'an (Xian) – um 800 ?
Otto Grotewohl 1894 Braunschweig – 1964 Ost-Berlin
Rong Bao Zhai 1672 Peking

Wood cut in colours, ink and gold on silk. In the original, elaborately designed wooden box with silk padding as well ...
as the original cardboard box.

Provenance: Otto Grotewohl estate, diplomatic gift from the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai on the occasion of his visit to the GDR in 1954 and on the occasion of Otto Grotewohl's state visit to Beijing in 1955.

The original painting by Zhou Fang, from which Rong Bao Zhai made the present woodblock print, is now preserved as a national cultural heritage in the Liaoning Provincial Museum. Zhou Fang's painting impressively demonstrates the artist's extraordinary ability to transfer the spirit of the sitter into pictorial form under close observation of the personalities. He was considered an outstanding figure painter of his time with an excellent sense of colour and harmonious composition.
Since they were first produced in the early 1950s, the coveted editions of the Beijing publishing house Rong Boa Zhai, which still exists today, have been presented as diplomatic gifts to personalities such as Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, or Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State of the United States, by President Mao Zedong and Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, among others.
The woodblock prints were and are only produced in a few copies due to the lengthy production process and the scarcity of materials.
In this reproduction, Rong Bao Zhai has succeeded in preserving the fine lines and bright colours of the original – the skills of the publisher have become a symbol of Chinese national pride.
As a timeless tribute to the Tang dynasty, the woodblock print "Court Ladies, Wearing Flower Headdresses" is of great significance. While Zhou Fang aimed for a naturalistic depiction of the five noble ladies, a maid with two small dogs and a crane, the artists of Rong Bao Zhai did not strive for a lifelike interpretation of the ladies, but for a truthful reproduction of the original > Read more

Area of depiction above and below inconspicuously spotted, with two diagonally running dark stripes in the centre. Wooden box minimally scratched, top of lid with two tiny pressure marks, inconspicuous overall impression. Silk cover of the inside lid very slightly soiled. Cardboard box superficially rubbed in places, inside with individual brownish spots. Bookmark broken.

H. 52,5 cm, L. gesamt 979,6 cm / Frontispiz 130,2 cm / Bild 188,1 cm, Kassette 11,5 x 58,5 x 11,5 cm.

882   Pair of large celadon-glazed vases with lotus decoration, Tianqiuping. China. Probably late Qing Dynasty, 19th cent.

Qingbai Ware 960 n. Chr. – Mitte 14. Jh. Jiangxi

Porcelain. White porcelain, the outer walls glossy celadon-coloured, inside glazed greyish-white. The walls with ...
chrysanthemum blossom and leaf decoration in low relief. A stylised lotus leaf border all around the stand. Glazed bottom, unmarked. On wooden lotus bases.

Provenance: family property since 1954, gift of a diplomat from the Chinese state government. > Read more

The rim of the mouth of a vase with three small glaze flaws and a t-shaped stress crack in the glaze at the neck. The outer walls with isolated dot-like inclusions, blowholes, small glaze defects and rubbing as well as unevenness in the mass. One vase with a very small fire crack. The glaze of the inner walls with numerous blowholes.

H. 54,5 cm.

954   A rare large cinnabar lacquer Hu-form vase with stand, China. Late Qing dynasty / Republic period, 19th cent. / 1912–1949. 1949.

Die rahmende Kartusche einer Handhabe mit Bruch o.re. Mündungsrand mit restauriertem, oberflächlichen Ausbruch (3 x 5,5 cm). Ansatz des Bodens mit partieller Rissbildung. Zwei Abplatzungen an Wandung (0,8 cm), Bartspitzen und Rückendornen der Drachen sowie eine Wolke und eine Welle mit sehr vereinzelten, minimalen Bestoßungen, im Gesamtbild unscheinbar. Standring mit leichten Lackverlusten, Lackierung des Bodens krakeliert, mit Schollenbildung und Verlusten. Partiell Nikotinablagerungen.
Ein Steg des Sockels mit vierfachem, restaurierten Bruch.

H. 47,5 cm, H. mit Stand 61 cm.

846   Guan (wine vessel). Cizhou kiln, North China. Late Yuan-Dynasty - Early Ming Dynasty. Around 1380.

Ceramic, light stoneware with creme-coloured slip, dark brown decoration and translucent glaze. The inside completely ...
covered in dark brown iron oxide. Baluster-shaped body with short neck and thickened mouth rim. The outside of the body with a phoenix design and stylized ruyi clouds with scratched interiour decoration. Surrounding rudimentary mountain contours. Below a painted rudimentary leaf fries between double rings. Bottom side with a painted (later?) numbering "133" and a symbol (eye?).

Provenance: Saxonian private collection, since 1952 evidenced, entry into the collection probably in the 1920s.

Report of Thermoluminiscence analysis no. 01R310120 of the laboratory Kotalla from the 04.02.2020 is available (640 years + / – 18%).

Lit.:
Yutaka Mino: Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares 960 – 1600 A.D, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1980, p. 10, 13 and p. 206 with image no. 254.

Thormann, O. / Gaetti, S.: Frühchinesische Keramik – Bestandskatalog Sammlung Heribert Meurer, GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig. Leipzig, 2017, p. 30. > Read more

Cream coloured slip with characteristic burst bubbles, flakes, crenation from the manufacturing process, the inside adequate. Overall with superficial traces of use and age. Rim with two hairline cracks (approx. 4,5 cm and 8,5 cm). In the area of the mountain contours with a horizontal slip crack (approx. 6,5 cm) and one slip crack in near the bottom (approx. 7,5 cm). Slip of corpus and bottom part with occasional rub-off and loss as well as two larger burst bubbles (without slip) in the area of a ruyi-cloud and a stripe. Bottom with a crenation with loss of material and a nearly horizontal slip crack running into the body of the vessel.

H. 34,5 cm, D. ca. 35 cm.

949   Plate with dragons. Qianlong six character mark, Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), 19. Jh./ 20th cent.

Porcelain, glazed. Plate with dragons. Qing Dynastie (1644-1911), 19. Jh./ 20th cent.
Porcelain, glazed. Décor with ...
two five-clawed dragons with a fiery pearl and surrounded by cloud formations. Bottom side with six character mark "Da Qing Qianlong Nian Zhi". > Read more

Overall fine scratches and the centre with two more distinct scratches. Rim and centre with blister from the firing process. Rim with five chips (1- 13 mm) and a clearly defined hairline crack (approx. 9 mm). The unglazed bottom stand with a fine crack from the firing process (approx. 4 mm).

D. 25,5 cm.

1060   Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva mit elf Köpfen und acht Armen. Sino-tibetisch. 18th cent.

Bronze, hohl gearbeitet, dunkelbraun patiniert und mit Resten einer braunen Lackierung sowie einer Lackvergoldung. ...
Perlenbesatz in Form kleiner Türkiscabochons. In Padmasana auf einem Lotossockel sitzender Bodhisattva mit indischem Fürstenschmuck. Vor der Brust in Anjali Mudra zusammengelegte Arme. In den nach außen gehaltenen rechten Händen eine Gebetsschnur, ein Buch sowie eine Sonne, die linken Hände Lotosblüten sowie einen Mond haltend. > Read more

Verso am Gesäß des Bodhisattva ein kleines Loch, wohl bereits im Herstellungsprozess hinterlegt. Der Sockel rückseitig ebenfalls mit alter Restaurierung (innenseitiger Hinterlegung), wohl aus dem Herstellungsprozess. Dort am Stand ein Materialriss. Steinbesatz zum Teil fehlend sowie partiell verfärbt. Gebetskette nur fragmentarisch erhalten. Vergoldung größtenteils berieben, Lackierung teils berieben. Partiell Korrosionsspuren.

H. 23 cm.

1100   Utagawa Hiroshige "Rokujuyoshu meisho zue" (Pictures of famous places in the sixty-odd provinces).1853- 1856.

Utagawa Hiroshige 1797 Edo (Tokio) – 1858 ebenda

Wood cuts in colours on washi. The complete set comprising 69 prints and table of contents.
Each print top right ...
with the title of the series in a red cartouche next to the subtitle cartouche with the province and the depicted place. Below a red cartouche with the signature “Hiroshige ga” in many cases next to the smaller block-cutter’s seal. For the most part with two censors’ seals as well as the date and the publisher’s seals "Koshimuraya Heisuke". Contents page with the title cartouche.

Furthermore seven cartouches with different layout and calligraphy, including the classification of the provinces into routes: the Gokinai, the Tokaido, the Tosando, the Hokurikudo, the Sanindo and the San’yodo in one cartouche, the Nankaido and the Saikaido.
Mounted in an album in Japanese stab binding. Each print entirely mounted on front and back of a double-layer washi. Cover of the album printed in grey and in parts with gold-coloured metal leaf and stamped with silver-coloured leaf motifs. Front cover with the title in Japanese characters on a paper label.

After the great success of Hiroshige‘s set of the „Tokaido and Kisokaido
roads“ in the 1830s the publisher Koshimuraya Heisuke engaged
Hiroshige for the ambitious project of designing „Sixty-odd
Views of the Provinces“, showing pictures from the 68 Japanese
provinces and the capital Edo, released between 1853 and 1856. It
was the first of a number of series from the highly productive years
of his later life.

The details of printing conditions of the following lots refer to the publication "Hiroshige's journey in the 60 odd-provinces" (2004) by Marije Jansen where the “Pulverer set” which was named after his owner, is depicted in full - the majority of those prints are from the first edition and in best printing quality.

Provenance: Property from a Saxon private collection; formerly from the estate of the artist Curt Hasenohr-Hoelloff (1887 Leipzig-1987 Markkleeberg).

All 69 prints and the table of contents are catalogued as alias lots 1101-1170. Please refer to our online catalogue for high resolution images as well as detailed descriptions.

Lit.: Jansen, Marije: "Hiroshige's journey in the 60 odd-provinces". Leiden, 2004. > Read more

Album ca. 40,7 x 28 cm, Bl. ca. 35,5 x 23,5 cm, Stk. 34 x 22,7 cm.

1194   1194 Rare iron-red and underglaze-blue "dragon" vase. China. Quianlong six-character seal mark.

Porcelain, glazed. Meiping-shaped body with wide shoulders and short tubular neck. The exterior enamelled in varying ...
tones of iron-red with two five-clawed dragons and a "flaming pearl" as well as crashing waves and cloud scrolls in varying tones of underglaze-blue. The base with the Quianlong six-character seal mark. > Read more

Excellent condition.

H. 27,2 cm.

1196   Netsuke. China. 19. Jh./ 20th cent.

Bein, geschnitzt, graviert und geschwärzt. Zwei Figuren mit einem Kilin. Unsigniert.

Verso Rissbildung, teils deutlicher vergilbt.

H. 6,5 cm.

729   Meditierender Buddha. China. Wohl 18th cent.

Wood, geschnitzt. Massive, vollplastisch gearbeitet Figur mit Fragmenten einer roten Lackfassung sowie winzigen Resten ...
einer goldfarbenen Fassung am Gewand.
Buddha im Dhyana Asana. Die Hände verweilen in der Geste der Meditation (Dhyana Mudra). Das Gewand fällt zu beiden Seiten gleichmäßig über die Schultern und reicht bis zu den Händen. Der Kopf ohne Haare und Kopfbedeckung gearbeitet, Ohren im Langohrtypus. Verso offene rechteckige Öffnung ohne Abdeckung. Darunter kleiner Klebezettel "121", am Boden die Inventarnummer des Kunstgewerbemuseums Schloß Pillnitz "36243"..

Provenienz: Ostdeutscher Privatbesitz, 2015 restituiert; Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kunstgewerbemuseum Schloß Pillnitz, 1942 aus dem Nachlaß des Israel Wollf Dresden übernommen, vorher Sammlung Julius Ferdinand Wollf (1903-1933 Chefredakteur und Verleger der Dresdner Neuesten Nachrichten) und Johanna Sophie Wollf, geb. Gutmann. > Read more

Holz an mehreren Stellen gerissen, am li. Bein neu angesetzt und gekittet. Farbfassung mit großflächigen Fehlstellen und Abplatzungen.

H. 24 cm.

880   A filigree carved ivory basket and cover with the monogram of Maria Pawlowna, grand duchess of Russia. China, Canton, Qing Dynasty. Late 19th cent.

Ivory, carved and assembled. Curved, oval corpus on four finely carved legs. The corpus divided into six segments. The ...
cover curved and with an almond-shaped knob. The trapezoid segments of the corpus each with a cambered cartouche on star-shaped grid-cut. Inside the cartouches finely carved arabesque embelllishment with oval lockets on delicate, horiziontally chequered pattern base. Within the lockets scenes of chinese every-day life. Cover front and verso with the crowned monogram "MP" in cyrillic letters. Filigree handle.
H. 17 cm, L. 27,5 cm.
Condition:
Plugged notches of the assembled panels predominantly open on one side due to shrinking of material. There with smaller and four major surface defects. Border on the bottom with loss of material. > Read more

Die gesteckten Nutverbindungen der Füllungen zu den Rahmenteilen schwundbedingt zumeist einseitig offen. Randbereiche der Füllungen dort mit kleineren sowie vier größeren Fehlstellen. Zarge mit Materialverlust.

H. 17 cm, L. 27,5 cm.

881   A filigree carved ivory basket with cover. China, Canton, Qing Dynasty. Late 19th cent.

Ivory, carved and assembled. Curved, oval corpus on four finely carved legs. The corpus divided into six segments. The ...
cover curved and with an almond-shaped knob. The trapezoid segments of basket and cover entirely furnished with finely carved, vivid chinese landscape, figural and architectural scenes on horiziontally chequered pattern base. Filigree, bamboo-shaped handle.
H. 17,5 cm , L. 27 cm.
Condition:
Plugged notches of the assembled panels predominantly open on one side due to shrinking of material. There with surface defects and curvature. Border on the bottom with small loss of material. One segment of the cover with major surface defect. > Read more

Die gesteckten Nutverbindungen der Füllungen zu den Rahmenstücken schwundbedingt zumeist einseitig offen. Ränder der Füllungen dort teilweise mit Ausbrüchen, Abrissen oder Verwölbungen.
Ein Strebenanschluß des Deckels einseitig ausgebrochen. Eine Füllung des Deckels mit größerer Fehlstelle. Zarge mit einer Fehlstelle.

H. 17,5 cm , L. 27 cm.

849   Fußschale. China. Spätes 19. / Early 20th cent.

L. 19,8 cm, B. 19,6 cm, T. 13,7 cm.