Page 250 - 2019 September 13th Christie's New York Important Chinese Works of Art

Dr. Maurice Berger examining a Xing zhadou (lot 1017).

P ro p e r t y f ro m t h e C o ll e c t i o n o f
Dr. Maurice Berger

(Lots 1016-1025)

he Song dynasty ceramics featured in this section—including a rare qingbai fgure of a Daoist sage,
T originally in the Falk Collection, and a selection of fne Ding, Xing, qingbai , Longquan, and black
and brown ware vessels—are a testament to two decades of Dr. Maurice Berger’s meticulous research,
connoisseurship, and respect for provenance.

Berger, a historian of 20th-century art and visual culture, was frst introduced to Song ceramics by friends
and renowned collectors of Chinese art, Myron (Johnny) and Pauline Falk, whom he met through their
daughter Patricia. “On holidays, we would retire to Johnny and Pauline’s elegant, museum-like living room
to play board games after dinner. I was surrounded by extraordinary Song pots, and they captivated me.
But it was not until Pauline Falk died in 2000, and the collection was sold at Christie’s, that I became
interested in collecting.”
Following in the footsteps of the Falks, Berger intensively studied Song ceramics, building a library of rare
books and catalogs and examining pieces at dealers and auction houses. His collection, the product of
refned taste and rigorous research, is focused on aesthetics, art historical signifcance, and provenance.
“I’m fascinated by these beautiful objects, “ he says, “how their forms derive from nature, their everyday and
ritual uses, and the history of how they were passed down from generation to generation.”
Inspired by the Falks’ emphasis on provenance, Berger sought out pieces with exemplary acquisition
histories—most from prominent 20th century dealers and collectors, and many included in museum
exhibitions and discussed in catalogs and scholarly articles. His collection epitomizes the ingenuity,
creativity, and inventiveness of the Song potter. “As an art historian trained in modern and contemporary
art, I have for decades appreciated the austere and beautiful forms and monochrome palette of Song
ceramics,” he says. “Collecting these wonderful pieces has helped me realize the brilliance and originality
of their abstract form, a conceptual and formal inventiveness that fourished centuries before the rise of
modernism in the West.”