Sotheby’s Australia is advertising some impressive Chinese blue-and-white porcelain for its next fine furniture and decorative arts sale, scheduled for Melbourne on April 5. Advertisements in the Sydney eastern suburbs newspaper the Wentworth Courier seeking consignments for the sale show a Kangxi period (Qing dynasty circa 1700s) ovoid jar and cover estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 and a Wanli period (Ming, circa 1600s) plaque at $8000 to $10,000. There’s also an Anglo-Indian Vizagapatam 19th century ivory and lacquerwork sewing box at $15,000 to $20,000. The works apparently came in as part of a large collection from Perth, which as well as Asian art includes 17th and 18th century English oak and Continental furniture.
The Sotheby’s team will also be busy gathering up paintings and sculpture for its Australian fine art sale scheduled for May 17 in Melbourne.
The Sotheby’s Australia franchise passed into the control of its former fine art chief Geoffrey Smith in a surprise move in December – echoing Tim Goodman’s “coup” in securing the Australian rights to use the Sotheby’s name just 12 months before. Goodman has now stepped down. As part of the fallout from the latest move, the firm’s capable public relations person, Anne Wall, has moved on.
For its part Bonhams Australia has a furniture and dec arts sale scheduled for Sydney’s Byron Kennedy Hall in Moore Park on May 8, along with Aboriginal art and jewellery. But it has cancelled plans for a free-standing paintings and fine art sale that month. Its next fine art sale will be in August.
In the meantime Bonhams is holding a soiree on February 25 to celebrate its new Sydney office – at 76 Paddington Street, Paddington - and to introduce its team of specialists. The gallery should have the right ambiance. It’s opposite the Christopher Day Gallery and mere metres away from the luxury dining spot Lucio’s, which sports art by John Olsen and others on its walls.
