Castle Street auction house Woolley and Wallis had a big day during its mid-November sales, with two auctions on the same day featuring artefacts that sold for six figures each.
The Lawrence Jade Collection and Fine Asian Art auctions both took place on Tuesday, November 14 at 10am and 12.30pm, respectively. Both sales featured multiple items with estimated values of £100k or more. However, some items sold for over eight times their estimated value.
A “fine and rare Chinese white jade ‘bamboo’ vase” in the Lawrence Jade Collection appraised at £50k-£80k sold for £690k while a “pair of fine Chinese imperial spinach-green jade ‘dragon’ seals” beat their appraisal of £100k-£200k when they were sold for £415,800 and a “pair of Chinese white jadeite ‘Bajixiang’ bowls and covers appraised at £6k sold for nearly 15 times their estimate, fetching £119,700.
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Clare Durham of Woolley & Wallis said: “The white jade is highly sought after. The sort of symbolism of the bamboo is popular with Chinese taste, as well.”
Accordingly, the catalogue listing for the vase quotes an old Chinese saying that “a gentleman’s residence cannot be without bamboo.”
In the later Fine Asian Art auction, numerous pieces sold for exponentially higher amounts than expected, with a “rare Chinese RU-type HU-shaped vase” sold for £44k, over seven times its estimated value of £6k, while a “rare Chinese blue and white cylindrical Ming-style ‘Pomegranates’ vase” sold for £151k, more than six times its estimated value of £25k and an “important gilded copper gem-inset figure of Mahasri Tara” sold for a whopping £478,800, despite being appraised at only £60k-£80k.
Clare said it is not uncommon for pieces to go for much higher than their appraised value.
She said: “That’s auctions really, if two people or more than two people decide they really want it then estimates can go out the window.”
The busy week will continue for Woolley & Wallis, with more Asian art featured on Wednesday, November 15, followed on Thursday, November 16 by Japanese art and a sale featuring pieces from the collection of orientalist Phillip Allen.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the location of Woolley & Wallis' auction house as Catherine Street rather than Castle Street.
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