West meets East at Asia’s Leading International Fine Art Fair
FINE ART ASIA 2-5 October 2016
Since its inception in 2006, Fine Art Asia has attracted an increasing number of major international galleries while earning worldwide recognition as Asia’s foremost event dedicated to art and antiques.
Fine Art Asia is unique, as it is the only fair in Asia to showcase a wide range of collectible fine art from both Asia and the West, spanning 5,000 years of cultural history from antiquity to the present day.
It showcases museum-quality works of art, exhibited by dealers from Europe, the USA and the East, and excels in Asian masterpieces in particular.
In October 2016, Fine Art Asia will again open Hong Kong’s fine art season, hosting many of the world’s most renowned galleries offering Asian and Western antiques including Old Masters, Impressionist and modern art; fine jewellery, silver and timepieces; Chinese ink paintings; contemporary art; design and decorative art.
In 2015, Fine Art Asia displayed more than 6,500 outstanding works of art worth HK$2.8 billion and attracted 25,800 international visitors.
Exhibitors are predominantly from Hong Kong and Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Others are from China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.
Among highlights at the 2016 Fair will be:
An important Vajrasattva Shakti, Mongolia, School of Zanabazar dating to the late 17th–early 18th century. This bronze piece stands 25cm (10in) tall and will be offered by Rossi & Rossi (London & Hong Kong). Zanabazar (1635–1723) was one of the most significant Asian artists. He distinguished himself in numerous other disciplines such as politics, engineering and literature—similar to the great Renaissance masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He derived inspiration for his sculptures from medieval Nepalese and eastern Indian images that were housed and revered in the Tibetan monasteries he had visited, but transformed and revitalised by a great and innovative master. Although his pictorial oeuvre seems to be completely lost, a small number of sculptures are attributed to him. Stylistically, his sculptures are finished to a high degree, finely detailed and with lustrous gilt surfaces. They are possessed of a serene fluidity, with delicate features yet vibrantly realised bodies. This is a superb example of the style of Zanabazar: relatively large scale, richly gilded and finely modelled with smoothly graded contours and exquisitely embellished details, imparting a sense of naturalness and vitality.
Incense Burner, China, Wanli period ( 1573-1620 ) dated 1588, H37xD39cm. Offered by Vanderven Oriental Art, s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, who return to Fine Art Asia for the 6th consecutive year, this large grey stoneware incense burner has a shape based on an ancient bronze food vessel called a ding, but was later adopted for incense burners. The censer bears a great many inscriptions, including when it was made, the make, and the patrons who gifted it. Comparable temple vessels can be found in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (Acc. Nr: 62.101.1), and in The British Museum, London (OA 1985.11-19.8) and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
A 45202
A Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577AD) limestone head of Buddha (23cm) will be shown by Wui Po Kok Antique Co., Ltd, Hong Kong, a prominent gallery specialising in ancient Chinese art including ritual bronze vessels, Buddhist sculptures and early ceramics.
At Fine Art Asia 2016, Whitestone Gallery (Tokyo and Hong Kong) will present works by the members of the famous Gutai Group of artists, which was an avant-garde post-War Japanese art collective. In particular, it will showcase works by Jiro Yoshihara (1905-1972), the leader of the group, and Yuko Nasaka (b. 1938), one of the most renowned female Gutai artists. Gutai artists strived to create fresh, exhilarating artworks that looked like nothing that had ever been seen before, through an active, performance-based, artistic practice. In this environment, abstraction reigned, figuration and symbolism were abandoned, and interpretation was left open to the viewer.
A North Indian gold, enamel and diamond bracelet, dating from the 19th century. This unusual flexible bracelet, consisting of tubes of gold decorated with enamel and inset with small diamonds, is closed by two diamond clasps. Offered by Susan Ollemans (London), the world’s leading specialist in Mughal and antique gold Indian jewellery, as well as antique gold articles from China and South East Asia, and Chinese works of art.
An important and rare gold and enamel quarter repeating Automation watch entitled The Barking Dog, made by Piguet & Meylan in Geneva, c. 1820. This watch is unusual in terms of automata as it does not strike a gong but activates a set of bellows to mimic a dog barking. The scene depicts a dog chasing a fleeing swan; the dog’s head moves up and down as it barks the quarters and the hours. Renowned watchmakers Piguet & Meylan were celebrated for making beautiful musical movements, magician’s automation boxes and barking dog automation watches. The “Barking Dog” series of watches all have numbers lower than 300 and appear to represent the earliest type of watch produced by Piguet & Meylan. Approximately 21 “Barking Dog” watches are known to exist today. Offered by Somlo Antiques (London).
A masterpiece by Claude Monet (1840-1926), master of Impressionism, entitled Aiguille d’Etretat, Marée Basse. In 1883 Monet embarked upon one of his most iconic series of landscapes, focusing on the epic rock formations at Etretat on the Normandy coast of France. Many of these pictures are now in museums throughout the world. Offered by Gladwell & Patterson, London, the painting has impeccable provenance, from Monet’s famous dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to eminent private collections in the USA, including that of Etta Eiseman Steinberg.
Statue of Guanyu Mounted On His Horse, China, 18th Century. This a bronze sculpture with green patina, standing 186 cm tall, will be offered by Barrere Hong Kong. Guanyu was a famous General during the Three Kingdom period, recognized for his military qualities and his moral correctness. He frequently appears in literature under the Song dynasty, particularly in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which clearly defines his appearance in Chinese culture.
