One of the finest collections of Chinese porcelain ever assembled is to be sold at auction with a combined estimate of more than £20m.
Sotheby’s is selling about 100 objects acquired in the 1950s and 60s by the late Roger Pilkington, a member of the Lancashire glassmaking family.
“It is a collection that people will remember for decades to come,” said Nicolas Chow, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia. “It is very unusual in the marketplace for a group like this to come up.”
Pilkington was one of the most active collectors of his day, continuing a British tradition that began in the 1920s and 30s.
“That level of connoisseurship in Chinese porcelain that collectors had in the 50s and 60s is what influenced the first generation of collectors in Hong Kong and Japan,” Chow said. “It is a taste that is very much celebrated in this part of the world.”
The collection spans 1,000 years of Chinese porcelain production from the Tang through to the Ming and the Qing dynasties.
Chow said it was particularly rich in early and later Ming porcelain – “periods that are incredibly difficult to acquire nowadays”.
Two stars in the auction will be a rare Chenghua blue and white “palace” bowl and an unusual blue and white holy water vessel. The melon-decorated bowl is estimated at £4m to £6m and is so rare that many of the world’s greatest collections lack an example.
It is from the latter part of the 15th century, one of the most celebrated in the history of Chinese porcelain which produced objects of astonishing quality, said Chow. “You can almost tell blind from touching the porcelain, it is so incredibly silky to the touch.”
The holy water vessel, with an estimate of £3m to £4m, is from the Yongle period of the early 15th century and was inspired by Tibetan Buddhist vessels. According to Sotheby’s there are only two companion pieces in the world, one of which is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is depicted in an 18th-century double portrait of the Qianlong emperor, China’s greatest art collector.
Another rarity is a holy water vessel called the Yaozhou Kundika, from the 11th or 12th century. It was was included in an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 1935, regarded as the most important exhibition of Chinese art ever held.
Pilkington, whose nickname was Podge, worked briefly for the family glass firm after leaving Eton school and later farmed in Aldbourne, Wiltshire. He died in 1969. Chow said Pilkington was part of a second generation of British collectors, buying mainly from the first generation.
The buyers are expected to come mainly from China, with rich collectors keen to buy back their country’s heritage.
Chow described the items as a landmark collection. “This time capsule captures a seminal moment in the history of collecting when connoisseurship in the field reached new heights of sophistication, and when collectors’ appetites for the very best were serviced by a handful of brilliant dealers.
“The sale is a rare opportunity for today’s collectors to discover exquisite treasures assembled by one of the most discerning and exacting eyes in the history of collecting Chinese ceramics.”
The sale will take place in Hong Kong in early April and the objects will be on public view at Sotheby’s London on 17 and 18 January.
