ONCE TREASURED BY emperors and their retinues, they're now commanding kings' ransoms. Dealers and auctioneers are reporting a boom at the very highest end of the antiques market for the likes of Ming and Qing porcelain and imperial scholar's items and works of art.
Last year, for example, a pair of rare Yuan dynasty jars was sold at Christie's auctions in London and Hong Kong for $214.7 million and $47.16 million, respectively. More recently, a Qianlong-period Chinese jade-hilted sword went under the hammer at Sotheby's for more than $46 million, and Christie's has picked an early Ming under-glaze copper-red vase, Yuhuchunping, to headline its spring auction next month.
Dealer and collector William Chak Kin-man is always on the lookout for quality Ming and Qing porcelain. 'I prefer Qing pieces, but it's not easy to buy them in Hong Kong,' he says. 'I have to look all over the world. The technique, the painting, the colour - I'm drawn to them because they're so beautiful.' Chak knows what he's talking about. He was described by Sotheby's managing director for Asia, Henry Howard-Sneyd, as 'one of the most important dealers in the world', after he bought a Guyuexuan vase last October that had belonged to Emperor Qianlong for $115.4 million. The sale set a record for a work of art in Asia and a world record for Qing dynasty porcelain.
Chak first spied the vase in 1975 in London, but couldn't afford it at the time. 'My master told me that it was top-quality, Qing imperial porcelain. The technique was the best. It's always remained in my mind. Six or seven years ago, I saw a similar piece, but it was damaged. During the past 30 years I've never seen such a perfect piece.'
The price of Qing porcelain has been at an all-time high for the past few years, says Nicolas Chow, who heads Sotheby's department for fine Chinese ceramics and works of art. 'Ming porcelain looks comparatively inexpensive and is regarded as undervalued,' he says, but even that area is starting to achieve record bids. 'There definitely seems to be a revival of interest in Ming dynasty porcelain. This is the seminal period when most of the styles, shapes and motifs were established in porcelain. But it's been out of fashion for the past few years.'
Mainland Chinese started to buy imperial pieces about five years ago, says Chak, who began an apprenticeship in antiques at the age of 16. 'There's always been an interest,' he says. 'There was just no opportunity in the past few years for people to express it.'
