FINE CLASSICAL CHINESE PAINTINGS & CALLIGRAPHY Auction: 23 March 2018, 10am and 2pm
This March, Fine Classical Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy will feature approximately 240 works by some of the most celebrated artists in the field. Wen Zhengming, Wang Hui, Wang Yuanqi and You Shouping are represented in Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy from the Collection of Joe and Hellen Darion, led by Wen Zhengming’s Ode to the Red Cliff (estimate $380/580,000). Carrying three seals of the artist, this serene landscape and beautiful calligraphy, executed when the artist was at the age of 87, also bears a number of collectors’ seals including those of Kong Guangtao (1832-90), He Kunyu (1828-96), Wango Weng (born 1918) and the present owners. Previously exhibited at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor and Asia House Gallery, New York City, this handscroll is an outstanding work by one of the leading artists of the Ming Dynasty.

The sale also includes Wen Peng’s Poems in Cursive Script, an elegant handscroll measuring 215 5/8 inches in length. Signed Sanqiaofu Peng and dated 1560, the 16th century ink on paper also features three seals of the artist alongside colophons by Xiang Hanping (1890-1978) and Wang Yunzhong (1873-1918). Last offered at auction in June 1987, the work now carries a pre-sale estimate of $120/180,000.

The Wellington and Juliana Koo Collection offers another opportunity to acquire Chinese paintings and calligraphy that have not been available for decades. Cultivated over the course of 40+ years, during Dr. Koo’s tenure as one of China’s most distinguished diplomats, the collection features Su Shi Poems in Running Script by Zeng Guofan (estimate $60/80,000). A framed set of six, this group of calligraphy was a gift from the artist to Li Hanzhang, the elder brother of Li Hongzhang who became Prime Minister. Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy from the Collection of Professor Chu-tsing Li is also of note this season. Comprised of nearly 50 works including paintings by Zhao Shao’ang and Xie Zhiliu, the collection illustrates the collector’s academic background as a Distinguished Professor of Art History at the University of Kansas and passion for the field, as he pioneered the study of this field in North America.

SATURDAY AT SOTHEBY’S: ASIAN ART Auction: 24 March 2018, 10am
Asia Week New York concludes this March with Saturday at Sotheby’s. Encompassing nearly 400 lots beginning in the Warring States and continuing through to the Republic period, the porcelain, textiles, sculptures, furniture and paintings illustrate the abundance of creativity from East, South and Southeast Asia. A Blue and White Stemcup with Lança Characters, bearing a Qianlong seal mark and of the period, leads the ceramic offerings this season with an estimate of $15/25,000, while a ‘Huanghuali’ Ming-Style Recessed-Leg Table-Form Stand from the Qing Dynasty, 18th/19th Century, is the top furniture lot this March. Designed with a two-panel top with a rectangular, molded-edge frame, supported by four elegantly carved legs, it carries a pre-sale estimate of $15/25,000.

THE GREAT WITHIN: PHOTOGRAPHS OF INDIA AND THE BRITISH RAJ IN THE 19TH CENTURY Selling Exhibition: 14-29 March 2018
Collected and curated by Clark Worswick, the founding curator of photography at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, The Great Within is a selling exhibition of 19th century photography. Seen through the eyes of renowned artists of their time – including Colin Murray, Felice Beato, Raja Deen Dayal and Bourne and Shepherd – the images document the people and the landscape of the British Raj. The works being offered in this selling exhibition are reprints from originals collected by Mr. Worswick, in state-of-the-art carbon inks, which will last nearly 400 years, extending the lifetime of these works of art as well as their historical significance.

LUIS CHAN: THE WORLD COMES TO HIM Selling Exhibition: 15-28 March 2018
Sotheby’s is pleased to present a retrospective of Luis Chan this Asia Week New York. Born in Panama in 1905, Luis Chan adopted Hong Kong as his home in 1910 where he established himself as a painter, teacher, writer, curator and cultural advocate. Travelling around the world virtually via international art publications, he picked up artistic cues from the Surrealists, Abstractionists and Impressionists, all of which are represented in his exhibition. On view from 15-28 March, the artistic strength and joie-de-vivre of Luis Chan comes to life at Sotheby’s this Asia Week 2018. First Look: The Imaginative Art Of Luis Chan