Page 160 - Bonhams Chinese Art London May 2013

The family residence, Primrose Hill, London

The Bernard Sunley Collection of Fine Jade Carvings By the late 1930s Sunley owned and operated a string of building
Bernard Sunley精美玉器收藏系列 and civil engineering companies. During 1939-45 as a government
Lots 125 - 128 contractor he was in a 'reserved occupation'. He built more than 100
bomber and fighter aerodromes – part of the largest scheme of public
Bernard Sunley (1910-1964) belonged to a generation privileged with works ever seen in Britain. In 1940, together with John Blackwood and
the availability of important and rare jade carvings sourced from China Niall Hodge he formed a partnership to acquire franchises for importing
following the upheavals resulting from the decline and end of the Qing giant earth-moving equipment from the USA, which would help speed
Dynasty, the establishment of the Republic, the civil war and creation airfield construction. Before the war was over he had taken control of
of the PRC, as well as from the dispersion of earlier collections formed the business which would become the world's largest earth-moving
in the early 20th century by collectors such as R.C. Bruce, Sir John and contracting equipment distributor. Sunley was a pioneer in the
Buchanan-Jardine, George de Menasce, Oscar Raphael and others. post-war reconstruction of Britain: the funds made from the earth-
He was a contemporary of other important collectors such as Sir John moving business were partly re-invested in acquiring bombed-out sites
Woolf, Lord Cunliffe and Somerset de Chair. for redevelopment. These property holdings were vested in the Bernard
Sunley Investment Trust.
Sunley, a self-made man from modest origins became a legendary
entrepreneur. He was an individualist - colourful, generous, outspoken,
and, above all, a powerhouse of energy and ability. Larger than life in
every way, he could be domineering and persuasive, but also charming,
intuitive and far-sighted. His wife, Mary, was a tower of strength in
her own right, working unstintingly to further Sunley's career, while
managing the overlaps between business life and family life with
sensitivity and flair. Sunley relied on her enormously and she played a
significant role in his success.

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