Dear Friends
Welcome to our August newsletter.
We start this newsletter with a very positive update for our many friends and clients in the USA, as well as the antiques industry in the UK. Traditionally our biggest export market for art and antiques has been the USA and hopefully that trend will continue now that It has been officially announced that antiques and fine art will once again be able to be exported to the USA free of any tariffs, thank you Donald 😊
Not so much to report on a business front last month, a combination of the World Cup, Wimbledon, world events and fabulous weather had slowed things down to a crawl, and now of course we enter the Summer holidays prior to the busy Autumn exhibition and fair season. I too look forward to a few weeks of boating and socialising with friends and family, when of course It’s bound to rain 😊
You will of course recall this fabulous Imperial presentation vase, with a museum provenance that I featured in last month’s newsletter. There were three very early enquiries from around the globe. However I am delighted to say the vase was quickly reserved by a UK based collector of Japanese metalwork.
As you might imagine, as a long-standing dealer in Japanese works of art I am offered so many commercial products, all of which usually find willing buyers, many of which remain incredibly popular and are a pleasure to handle. Superbly crafted highly decorative objects such as birds on stands, Samurai on bases, elephants, tigers, jardinieres, in fact endless okimono subjects. The output during the short years of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) was quite staggering, and continues to engage me as well as a large worldwide audience. In fact it’s one of a handful of genres that seemingly does not lose its appeal.
From time to time I am incredibly fortunate to handle an item that leaves me breathless, one that I don’t instantly fully get and have to continually return to handle, this was one of these items.
It’s difficult to put into words, but those that understand this level of workmanship will know exactly what I am trying to say. How an artist can create such a scene using mixed alloys to achieve this level is beyond rational explanation.
This is an extraordinary one-off vase deemed worthy of Imperial presentation and it’s not difficult to see why when it is in your hands. Thank you to this client for investing in, what is, in my honest opinion, a ridiculously undervalued masterpiece of museum quality.
Thankfully it will not be the last masterpiece that I offer from this wonderful museum collection, please continue to follow for further updates in the Autumn.
Another less significant but equally important sale last month was this super condition Satsuma plaque now residing in its new UK home in the north of England.
As this month’s featured item, I thought it a good opportunity to showcase this majestic crow by Masatsune, an artist that excelled in the manufacture of Bird subject Okimono.
And finally, you may remember some time back that I shared an image of an Ikebana display that my wife had created for our home using a basket that I purchased in Japan. At the time I did purchase a second basket for the same purpose, but after much deliberation we just do not have a perfect space for it, and so it is available for immediate delivery if somebody out there fancies trying their hand at Ikebana.
Best wishes
Steve