The Meiyintang Chenghua “Chicken Cup”
Est. HK$200 – 300 million / US$25.6 – 38.5 million
At Sotheby’s Hong Kong
“Chicken Cup” to fetch $25 million (GNC Global News Channel)
Chicken Cup could fetch $35 million at Sotheby’s On April 8, 2014, Sotheby’s Hong Kong will offer for sale the Meiyintang Chenghua Chicken Cup. One of the most important Chinese porcelains ever to come to auction, it is expected to fetch HK$200 – 300 million / US$25.6 – 38.5 million.]]>
March 18th, 2014, source: Sotheby’s
First created in the Chenghua reign (1465 – 87), “Chicken cups” have been praised, desired and reproduced by Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) emperors and other discerning literati collectors. With a legendary aura that goes well beyond their immediate arthistoricalimportance, “chicken cups” have in modern days set record prices for Chinese art in 1980 and 1999. Theparticular specimen offered, one of only four preserved in private hands, comes from the celebrated MeiyintangCollection, Europe’s grandest collection of Imperial Chinese porcelain, and has the most illustrious provenance spanningthe revered collections of Mrs. Leopold Dreyfus, Sakamoto Goro, Giuseppe Eskenazi and, reputedly, Edward T. Chow.
Chenghua “Chicken cups” were produced in extremelysmall quantities. Apart from the present example, onlythree others are preserved in private hands and no morethan a few of the world’s most prestigious museums canboast an example among their collections, includingThe National Palace Museum, Taipei; the BritishMuseum, London; the Victoria & Albert Museum,London; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; theMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and theCollections Baur, Geneva. Even fragmentary “chickencups” appear to be rare among the excavations at theMing imperial kiln site in Jingdezhen. In the auctionmarket, Chenghua “chicken cups” were only ever offered for sale at Sotheby’s, setting record prices for Chinese art in1980 and 1999.
Nicolas Chow, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and International Head of Fine Chinese Ceramics andWorks of Art, said, “It is a great privilege for us to offer this iconic ‘chicken cup’ again at auction, 15 years after itbroke a world record for Chinese art back in 1999. Ever since the Ming dynasty when they were produced, Chenghuaperiod ‘chicken cups’ have been praised and treasured by emperors and connoisseurs alike. Given their extremerarity, they are by definition the crowning glory of any collection of Chinese porcelain.”
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Auctions of fine Chinese ceramics and works of Art at Christie’s and Sotheby’s (news, August 2012)
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