Sotheby’s announces that the Meiyintang Chicken Cup will indeed go to auction on April 8th in Hong Kong with an estimate between $25m and 38m:
Sotheby’s Hong Kong is greatly honoured to present the Meiyintang Chenghua “Chicken Cup” at its Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Spring Sales to take place on 8 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 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 art- historical importance, “chicken cups” have in modern days set record prices for Chinese art in 1980 and 1999.
The particular specimen offered, one of only four preserved in private hands, comes from the celebrated Meiyintang Collection, Europe’s grandest collection of Imperial Chinese porcelain, and has the most illustrious provenance spanning the revered collections of Mrs. Leopold Dreyfus, Sakamoto Gorō, Giuseppe Eskenazi and, reputedly, Edward T. Chow.
