Hard on the heels of Bonhams’s Sydney sellathon offering everything from vintage cars to taxidermised animals (see report elsewhere on this site), comes a bumper catalogue for Mossgreen’s “Spring Auction Series” in Melbourne offering more than 2000 lots. And if the 300-page catalogue isn’t enough to keep browsers enthralled there is more on-line – including illustrations of every single lot.
Early sessions include fine art on November 16 (see separate report) and the contents of Dunraven in Toorak, home to prominent socialites Anne Turnbull and Martin Clemens.
But the real focus of the auction is Chinese and Asian art – drawn from several single-owner collections – which is to be sold on November 29 at the firm’s premises in Toorak Road, South Yarra. Here the offerings range from the grand – for instance lot 959, a 97cm Khmer sandstone figure of a deity, 11th century, estimate $200,000 to $300,000 – to the humble, like lot 322, a white jade kneeling deer with a ritual sceptre in its mouth, 17th/18th century, 4cm high, estimate $1000 to $2000.
The little jade is from the collection of the late Norman Rodd, an industrial chemist turned inveterate collector who bought extensively from Ray Tregaskis, the Sydney dealer and Mossgreen consultant who pays tribute to Rodd in the catalogue.
The Khmer deity, which is provenanced to New York dealer, the late William H Wolff, is from an unidentified private Melbourne collection which has also yielded an important Tibetan gilt bronze figure of a kneeling Nagajara, the Serpent King, 37cm high, 15th century (Lot 956 ) estimated at $70,000 to $90,000, and a northeast Indian 11th century Pala stone stele 74cm high portraying Shiva seated on a bull with his consort Parvati on his knee (Lot 962 ), also $70,000 to $90,000.
There is also a fine and rare rhinoceros horn libation cup (lot 1248) Kangxi period 17th/18th century and 14cm wide which is from the collection of scientist couple Drs John and Kay Lindsay. It is estimated at $7000 to $10,000 but Mossgreen managing director Paul Sumner says early interest suggests it is likely to do significantly better.
Another highlight, Sumner says, is a rare pair of Qianlong yellow-ground saucer dishes 20cm in diameter (Lot 938 ) which carry a $50,000 to $60,000 estimate.
An extensive offering of bronzes, ceramics and carved ivories rounds out a very strong Asian section.
Many of the pieces on offer have a provenance to reputable salerooms and outlets in New York and London, and in Australia to respected dealers like Tregaskis and the late Cito Cessna of Sydney.
Such background is important to Asian art buyers, but taste is capricious, particularly when it comes to the picky mainland Chinese buyers who are a force to be reckoned with in salerooms all over the world. This month a Qianlong imperial perforated vase offered at an obscure auction house in west London unexpectedly soared to pounds 51.6 million – setting a new saleroom record for Chinese art.
Among a host of other material at Mossgreen is Australiana, including documents signed by notables such as D’Arcy Wentworth, Aboriginal and Maori artifacts, pre-Columbian art, Egyptian antiquities, even medieval jewellery and engraved gems. And many lots look affordable, with estimates as low as $100 to $200.
As Sumner says, the auction is relatively light on traditional decorative art and furnishings but is very much a sale for serious collectors. “It’s not every day you get such a diverse selection – it’s a truly international auction”.