Page 126 - Bonhams November 4 2021 Japanese art London

Satsuma ware from an English Private Collection
(Lots 196 - 210)

Foreword from the collector

I would call myself a ‘collector-maniac’! I started collecting when I Meizan until I bought my first piece in 2006. Having acquired a few
was around 5 years old, beginning with the very exalted categories pieces, I took advice and learned a lot from Suzannah Yip, whom I
of shells, marbles, and then exploring stamps. I quickly learned two still consider to be my friend, guide and mentor. I first met Suzannah
lessons, about quantity and quality, which most collectors realise are in 2009, not long after she joined Bonhams, and I well remember all
key if you want your collection to be more than just an assemblage the enjoyable chats we have had in her then small corner of a larger
of similar objects. Sadly, you only learn after a few mistakes (or when shared Asian Department office, before Bonhams built the much
you come to sell, maybe!) that it’s not a good idea to amass a large more handsome and elegant saleroom we know today. I used to im-
quantity of insignificant pieces; only acquire the very best quality mensely enjoy exploring the shelves with her in the old packed store-
which you can afford over the years, if possible through trading up. room, picking up an exciting new arrival off the shelf, examining and
After trading for years, my stamp collection only contained less than handling it, and then the lively conversations that always ensued!
30 stamps, but in the end all were of impeccable quality, provenance
and certification. I think my enjoyment of art is closely related to my passion for music.
I’m the 4th generation of a very musical immigrant family. My grand-
Then I decided to change my collecting direction pretty dramatically. father De Beriot, and even my great-grandfather, were conductor/vio-
I have always been interested in Japan and its art, having first visited linists. My father Horace (born in 1890) was an eminent double-bass
Japan in the 1960s with the London Symphony. However, I didn’t fall player in the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony
in love with the amazing, intricate work and technical skills of Yabu Orchestra, and the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, before form-
ing with my teacher Anthony Pini the nucleus of musicians who
stayed with Sir Thomas Beecham when he fell out with manage-
ment and formed another Orchestra.

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