The Art Newspaper

Jade bell rings in record sale for regional auction house

Collectors, especially from mainland China, snatch up works at Woolley & Wallis's annual May Asian art sale

By Viv Lawes. Web only
Published online: 24 May 2010

This Imperial white jade bell, or ghanta, sold for £2.46m (est. £200,000-£300,000)

A new record for a single sale at a UK regional auction house has been set at Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury. The blockbuster Asian Art auction, held on 19-20 May, totalled a premium-inclusive £8.8 million, against pre-sale estimates of £2.5m-3.5m. This blew away the previous record of nearly £6m, also set by Woolley & Wallis at the Asian Art sale last May when a late 18th-century Imperial Qianlong jade waterbuffalo made £4.2m. According to the auctioneers, over 95% of the lots by value were bought by collectors from mainland China—a reflection of the increasing number of wealthy Chinese who are determined to repatriate their cultural heritage.

Over half of the sale total, £4.69m (est. £630,000-£950,000), resulted from ten superb Chinese works of art from the estate of the Hon Mrs Mary Anna Marten OBE, of Crichel House, Dorset. She and her father, 3rd Baron Alington, purchased nine 18th- to early 19th-century Chinese jade, lapis lazuli and rock crystal carvings and an archaic bronze Gui from the Western Zhou Dynasty (dating from 1100-771 BC) in the 1950s and early 60s.

The headline work was an Imperial white jade bell, or ghanta, with a four character Qianlong reign mark (1736-1795), which sold for £2.46m (est. £200,000-£300,000). Representing wisdom and feminine power, it is one of the most important symbols of Tibetan Buddhism when combined with the masculine power of vajra, represented by a sceptre. An almost identical ghanta is in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

A pair of Imperial grey-green jade elephants from a throne-room group of the Emperor Qianlong made the second-highest price of £1.23m (est. £200,000-£300,000). “We knew both the ghanta and the elephants would make seven figures, but thought the prices would be the other way round—the ghanta is more to Chinese taste, while the elephants are perhaps easier for Westerners to appreciate,” said John Axford, who masterminded the sale, competing with Christie’s to win the consignment.

Throughout the sale the rocketing strength of the Asian art market was in evidence. Statistically, Woolley & Wallis’s established May Asian Art sale has grown year-on-year, with 85% of its 928 lots sold in 2009 and 69% of its 752 lots in 2008 sold. This year, there were 1013 lots, of which 83% sold. In addition to the two works examined, 11 lots went for over £100,000, while 22 made more than £50,000.