Waiting for discovery

THERE IS AN unexpected delicacy about the way Christie's staff lays out some of the examples from the private collection of lacquer wares it will be auctioning later this month. Genteel concern is to be expected for porcelain and calligraphy.

But during a discussion about the possible effects of the sun in one of Christie's conference rooms (which is fine, the window blind is sufficient protection), Pola Antebi, director of Christie's Chinese ceramics and art department in Hong Kong, talks about the properties of lacquer.

'People have always been a little afraid of it,' she says. 'It suffers if there are drastic changes in humidity or temperature so I guess, for collectors, there was always a worry about preserving it correctly.'

The historical result of such a hands-off attitude is that lacquer, greatly esteemed and highly costly though it was in the past, now appears relatively inexpensive next to the palpitation-inducing prices of ceramics. For example, lot 622 - 'a very rare chrysanthemum-shaped black lacquer dish' from the Song dynasty (estimate: HK$65,000-80,000) - is worth some serious thought.

Which is partly the point. Christie's is obviously hoping that the sale will stimulate general interest in the relatively neglected (certainly by Western collectors) field of lacquer ware.

It is being billed as 'the most important private collection of early Chinese lacquer wares' the auction house has ever offered, and is accompanied by a one-day seminar today, given by Rosemary Scott, senior academic consultant for Christie's Asian arts departments in London.