Riding into the winter season
An elaborate saddle and Tang head lead the Asian Art offerings, as a bullet teapot, Tennis-design vase and writing cabinet line up at Olympia
THE Asian Art in London dealers’ exhibitions officially close on Friday (November 5), but many will remain on view in the galleries for a while yet (www.asianartinlondon.com). Two that are outstanding, for their superb catalogues as well as the exhibits, are Eskenazi’s ‘Tang: Ceramics, Metalwork and Sculpture’ in Clifford Street, W1 (www.eskenazi.co.uk), and Peter Finer’s ‘Mythical Beasts and Worldly Creatures’ (www. peterfiner.com), in Duke Street, St James’s, SW1.
It is 37 years since Eskenazi offered a purely Tang exhibition and this includes one of the rarest objects ever handled by the gallery: a monumental dry-lacquer head of a bodhisattva (Fig 1), ‘one of the most significant surviving sculptures of the period’. The 17in-high head comes from the 8th-century high tide of the dynasty, when dry lacquer, an expensive technique requiring time and highly skilled craftsmen, vied with the prevalence of clay in sculpture. The pupils of the eyes, incidentally, are black glass. I found it difficult to choose which two of Finer’s highlights to illustrate. One is an early-19th-century shamshir sword from Rajasthan, its makara hilt composed of enamelled steel, gold and silver and set with diamonds, emeralds, green beryls, rubies and glass—a makara is a sea creature with elements of crocodile, elephant, boar, fish and peacock. The other is a perhaps 16th-century gser sga saddle (Fig 2) from eastern Tibet or neighbouring China. Having decided on the saddle, I learned that it had been shortlisted for the Asian Art in London Dealer’s Award, but as the sword has already won in the Islamic and Indian section, it is unlikely that Finer will have gained another award.
The saddle was made between 1450 and 1600, with elaborately decorated fretted gilt-iron plates, pierced and chiselled with sinuous, scaly, four-clawed dragons writhing through a tracery of scrolling foliage. Ancient Chinese dragons were adopted and adapted in neighbouring countries to suit their own specific beliefs, storytelling, art and heraldry.
Another most interesting show is ‘East meets West’ at Benappi, the Old Master gallery in Dover Street, W1 (until November 6), which has invited Elena Nies of the Antwerp Oriental-arts dealer Marcel Nies to join forces for the occasion (www.benappi.com). This is as valuable a crossfertilisation between specialists as it was between cultures.
The Winter Art & Antiques Fair is back at Olympia (until November 7; www.olympia-artantiques.com), although on a slightly smaller scale than usual, with 51 exhibitors. Nonetheless, there are many good things to be found among their offerings, of which a few are
illustrated here. By chance, these are all comparatively small.
It surprises me that the bullet or, more precisely, musket-ball silver teapot (Fig 6) should have been so much more popular in Scotland than elsewhere, as it has a most appealing shape. Mary Cooke has an excellent example made by George Cooper of Aberdeen in about 1735. George II Aberdeen teapots are rare, and Cooper’s pride in his product and attention to detail are shown when one looks at the underside of the cover— the utilitarian nut holding the finial in place is modelled as a stylised flowerhead.
With Matthew Holder, specialist in European works of art, are a 14¾in-high alabaster figure of a kneeling female mourner (Fig 4) dating from the second half of the 16th century, which retains a remarkable amount of gilding, and, of much the same date, a Flemish 27in by 12½in Lamb of God (Fig 5), on the book with the seven seals of the Apocalypse, which is boldly carved in oak. The Lamb’s foreleg is crooked to hold a now-lost banner.
It was perhaps to conceal things from servants or inquisitive spouses that a multi-purpose Regency kingwood table cabinet (Fig 3) with Mark Goodger (formerly Hampton Antiques) has a secret compartment in its lid, which also holds a mirror. Unusually, the interior bookbacks do not mask doors, but divide horizontally to reveal four variously fitted drawers. At the bottom are pentray, inkwells and storage spaces. The next up is empty, but lined with unusual original patterned paper; the next is for sewing equipment, including reels and pincushion, and the top one is filled with various threads, laces and more sewing materials. One side of the cabinet unlocks to reveal a stationery compartment.
For all that the art world might consider her an artisan, Clarice Cliff (1899–1972) was perhaps the most popular British artist of the Art Deco period. During a career that began at the age of 13, she designed more than 2,000 patterns and 500 shapes of her domestic ceramic wares, many of which were as highly popular as they were coloured. Andrew Muir, specialist in 20th-century ceramics, offers a rare Tennis design vase (Fig 7), so called because each example includes a net pattern.
Next week Farewell to a master dealer