GLEN COVE, N.Y. – Roland Auctions NY hosted a highly successful two-part auction on May 20 and 21, which totaled $2 million, marking Roland’s highest-grossing sale so far this year. The sale focused largely on Asian art, Asian decorative items, and antiquities, and also offered a selection of high-end jewelry, contemporary art, Dale Chihuly glass pieces, Peking rugs and contemporary furnishings.

The main attraction was a superb collection of Chinese decorative arts from the estate of Sysco Foods cofounder Herbert Irving and his wife Florence Irving, world-renowned collectors of all things Asian and founders of the Asian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Also taking the spotlight was the collection of well-known Palm Beach socialite June Hirsch Jones, a former upper East side gallery owner who sold high-end post-war art, Chinese art and antiquities. In the early 1960s she was a companion of actor Rock Hudson for a time, traveling with him through southern France and Italy when he needed to be seen with an attractive woman for the paparazzi.

Heated bidding surrounded many highly-anticipated items, including an Imperial pale celadon Mei Ping vase (shown at top of page) from the Yun Chen period. It was at one point purchased from a gallery known as Rare Arts, and the vase’s original invoice indicated it was from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Consigned from the estate of June Hirsch Jones and estimated at $2,000-$3,000, it sold for the astonishing sum of $187,500.

Also performing well was a set of eight Japanese reproduction ink drawings, which realized $225,000 against an estimate of $1,200-$1,600, and a Chinese cinnabar-lacquered bridal box from the Qianlong period (1736-1795). The peach-shape box was consigned from the estate of June Hirsch Jones and came with its original invoice from Royal Phoenix, New York. It achieved $125,000 against an estimate of $2,000-$3,000.

Items of note consigned from the estate of Florence and Herbert Irving include two Chinese jade bi-form circlets, offered with their presentation box. The pair, estimated at $300-$500, earned $31,250.

Musical instruments on offer included a 17th-century harpsichord, its thin case carved in the Georgian manner and decorated with all-over Chinoiserie decor. Consigned from the estate of Florence and Herbert Irving and estimated at $1,000-$1,500, it sold for $68,750.

Contemporary art was also well represented in the May 20-21 sale, most prominently by a 1980 Robert Natkin acrylic titled Blue Still Life, from his Intimate Lighting series. It attained $46,875 against an estimate of $4,000-$6,000.

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