Page 19 - 2019 September 10th Sotheby's Important Chinese Art Jades, Met Museum Irving Collection NYC

explored by Asian craftsmen over Þ ve millennia. Areas of particular strength ⎴ ⸜ 攻 炻 䁢 䫼 嫅 Ḵ Ṣ 䁢 ⣏ 悥 㚫 ⌂ 䈑 棐
are Chinese, Japanese, and Korean lacquers, South Asian sculpture, Chinese ŕũŰŮŢŴġ ŋįġ ŘŢŵŴŰů⚾㚠棐㍸ὃ㋸≑ẍ⺢䩳岤
jades and hardstones, scholars’ objects of ivory, rhinoceros horn, bamboo, 屟㚠䯵⍲⚾㚠棐攟㛇䵕ᾖ➢慹炻⚾㚠棐䘬
wood, and metalwork, Japanese ceramics, and Chinese and Japanese ᷣ敚嬨⭌␥⎵䁢ŇŭŰųŦůŤŦġ Ţůťġ ʼnŦųţŦųŵġ ŊųŷŪůŨġ
œŦŢťŪůŨġœŰŰŮˤ
painting. Taken together, this transformative gift Þ lls gaps and extends the
Met’s existing strengths in ways that will further elevate the Museum’s ijıIJIJ⸜炻㫸暚ằ⃟岲≑㛔净ᷳ⋿Ṇ⍲㜙⋿
stature as one of the world’s premier collections of Asian art. Ṇ喅埻䫾⯽Ṣ借ỵ炷ŇŭŰųŦůŤŦġ Ţůťġ ʼnŦųţŦųŵġ
ŊųŷŪůŨġńŶųŢŵŰųġŰŧġŵũŦġłųŵŴġŰŧġŔŰŶŵũġŢůťġŔŰŶŵũŦŢŴŵġ
Among the highlights of the Irvings’ gift is an outstanding selection of South
łŴŪŢ炸炻㬌借ỵẍḴṢ␥⎵炻᷎䓙ŋŰũůġňŶź
and Southeast Asian sculpture. Notable are early Hindu images from eighth-
㑼ả炻ℵ㫉嫱㖶ṾᾹ⮵㛔净䘬㓗㊩ˤ
ninth century Kashmir, important medieval stone sculptures including the
㫸暚ằ⃟㚨役㛇㋸岰䘬IJĭĴııẞ喅埻⑩炻㵝
iconic twelfth-century Dancing Celestial, several early Tibetan polychrome
味Ḽ⋫⸜ẍἮ㜙Ṇ⍲⋿Ṇ⎬⛘慵天㔯⊾⍲
stone images, and an extremely rare form of Shiva from tenth-century
㛸岒炻℞ᷕ⊭㊔ᷕ⚳ˣ㖍㛔ˣ杻⚳㺮☐ˣ
Angkorian Cambodia.
⋿Ṇ晽⟹ˣᷕ⚳䌱☐ˣ䠔䞛ˣ尉䈁ˣ䈨
By far the largest portion of the Irving gift is made up of a diverse array of 奺ˣ䪡☐ˣ⍲㛐☐㔯䍑ˣ慹Ⱄ☐ˣ㖍㛔䒟
Chinese works of art including calligraphy, paintings, ivories and bamboo ☐ˣᷕ⚳⍲㖍㛔㚠䔓䫱ˤ忁㈡喅埻⑩䘬㋸
carvings, and some 500 jades and hardstones. Such works, long associated 岰嬻㛔净䘬㓞啷㚜䇚寸⭴炻ᶼ㍸⋯棐啷䘬
with the intimate arts of the scholar’s studio, importantly broaden and 岒慷炻ㆸ䁢ᶾ䓴ᶲ岒慷㚨䱦䘬Ṇⶆ喅埻啷
deepen the Museum’s coverage of China’s mainstream literati cultural ⑩䘬⌂䈑棐ᷳᶨˤ
tradition. 㫸暚ằ⃟㋸岰慵溆ᷳᶨ䁢⋿Ṇ␴㜙⋿Ṇ晽

Among the many treasures encompassed in this rich body of material ⟹⁷ˤ℞ᷕῤ⼿䈡⇍ᶨ㍸䘬㗗ℓ军ḅᶾ䲨
are the Irvings’ superlative holdings of East Asian lacquer. An area of ⃳Ṩ䰛䇦䘬㖑㛇⌘⹎㔁䤆⁷炻慵天ᷕᶾ䲨
comparative weakness in the Museum’s holdings prior to this gift, this 晽⁷⊭㊔⋩Ḵᶾ䲨䞛晽⤛䤆梃⣑⁷炻⍲㔠
ẞ大啷㖑㛇⼑丒䞛晽⁷炻⎎㚱㤝䁢䦨⮹䘬
fundamental medium of East Asian artistic expression is immeasurably
㞔❼⮐⏛⒍䩇⋩ᶾ䲨㽽⧮⁷ˤ
strengthened by the Irving donation of 224 Chinese, Japanese, and Korean
lacquers ranging in date from the Þ rst to the twentieth century. The 141 㫸暚ằ⃟よ岰䘬喅埻⑩㵝味⫿䔓ˣ䈁晽ˣ
Chinese lacquers in the Irving Collection o! er a truly comprehensive picture 䪡晽⍲䲬Ķııẞ䌱☐⍲㒢ẞˤ忁栆㔯䍑㬋
of the medium across two millennia, from the Han Empire through the ⤥冯㛔棐ᷣ㖐㍐⺋㔯Ṣ⬠⢓㔯⊾Ḻ䚠␤
ㅱˤ
end of the Qing dynasty. The small but choice selection of eleven Irving
Korean lacquers represents the Þ nest such assemblage in the West, with 㫸暚ằ⃟㓞啷䚉㗗冣⑩炻⯌℞㗗㜙Ṇ㺮
two Joseon-period mother-of-pearl inlaid boxes (one from the 15th-16th ☐ˤ㛔棐㺮☐㓞啷㛔ᶵ䓂寸⭴炻ᶼ㬌栆喅
century and the other from the 18th century), a nineteenth-century box 埻⑩䁢㜙Ṇ㔯⊾喅埻∝ἄ䘬㟡㸸炻ᶨỮ㵝
with dragon decoration inlaid in tortoise shell and ray skin in addition to ㊔Ḯ㫸暚ằ⃟㇨㋸岰䘬ijijĵẞᶨ军Ḵ⋩ᶾ
䲨䘬ᷕ⚳ˣ㖍㛔⍲杻⚳㺮☐炻ἧ㛔棐㺮☐

CHINESE ART FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: THE FLORENCE AND HERBERT IRVING GIFT 17