Rare Collection of Asian Arts Acquired in the 1960s and 1970s Travels to Mathesons' AA Auction for March 29-30 Sale
March 5, 2008
Part of the collection of Lillian Watson, previously exhibited at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in New York, will be sold at Matheson’s AA Auction in Melbourne, FL.
MELBOURNE, Fla.—For the first time in its history, Matheson’s AA Auction of Melbourne, FL will conduct an auction event live online through LiveAuctioneers.com. Auction owner Lloyd Matheson said, “We owe it to our consignors to open up this sale to the world.”
The 800-lot sale on March 29-30 will begin with 35 pieces of Asian art and antiques from the collection of noted collector and world traveler, Lillian Watson. 20of the 35 pieces were exhibited at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and were insured for over $5,000,000 in 1997. Matheson’s will offer the 35 pieces sequentially as the opening lots of the sale.
Mrs. Watson regularly traveled with art and antiques specialists to advise her on her purchases. Among those advisors were Dr. Marty Young, curator of the Johnson Museum; Dr. Mary Linda, curator of the Rockefeller collection; Dr. Richard Howard of the Birmingham Museum, and Dr. Richard Gramley. The committee of experts that vetted the display for the Museum provided lot descriptions. Mrs. Watson also purchased items from C. T. Loo in Paris and New York and the Aladdin Gallery.
The first lot of the sale will be a 14-inch-high underglazed copper-red and white pear-shape bottle, 14th century, from the early Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Reign. When this bottle was first exhibited in the Museum in 1997, on loan from Mrs. Watson, it was insured for $2 million. A bottle with the same design, underglazed, and with similar provenance, one inch shorter, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in 1997 for $2.8 million. Matheson will open the auction with this unreserved lot at $100,000.
Among other items from the collection are a 10½-inch Imperial Chinese yellow enamel saucer dish, underglazed blue and overglazed yellow, with a floral decoration from the Ming Dynasty bearing the Emperor Chenghua mark (1465-1487); a 19½in tall Chinese Famille Noire glazed vase with court scenes from the Qing Dynasty with Kangxi mark (1661-1722), and a life-size Khmer Baphuon sculpture of a male, 10th century, 49 inches tall with base.
Following the initial group of Watson lots will be what Matheson is calling a “Discovery Asian Art” session featuring another 30 to 40 Asian artifacts from other collections. This may be the opportunity, according to Matheson, for someone to find an undiscovered treasure. This section will include such items as an 18th/19th century Qing Dynasty flambé glazed vase, 9½in tall, an eight-panel Ming Dynasty-style blue-and-white table screen, and six important early Japanese tiles framed together, each one signed.
In addition to Oriental art, the sale will feature some significant American and European art as well as estate jewelry and select furniture items. One piece of artwork that is of special interest in this sale was previously sold by Matheson’s a little over two years ago. It is a work by American painter Ernest Lawson (1873-1939). Lawson was one of The Eight, a group of Impressionist painters working in New York after the turn of the 19th century. The painting at hand is an Impressionist work of a young girl in a forest.
When originally offered at Matheson’s, the unusually large painting by Lawson seemed to be covered by a white film. The consensus in the room was the painting had been “skinned” by overzealous cleaning. The painting sold for $40,000 plus buyer’s premium. The buyer sent it to a restorer where the film was determined to be a discoloration of over varnish. The original buyer has now consigned the fully restored colorful painting to Matheson’s to be sold without reserve.
To view the fully illustrated auction catalog, and place absentee and live Internet bids, visit www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
