Heritage’s September auction pairs Ming and Qing porcelain, carved jade and an early Yuan Jiang landscape with objects assembled by noted collectors.
By Intelligent Collector Staff | September 11, 2025
Asian art buyers often weigh craftsmanship, period, iconography and provenance together. Heritage Auctions’ Sept. 17 Fine & Decorative Asian Art Signature Auction brings those factors into one catalog through imperial porcelain, jade and hardstone carvings, paintings and material from private collections formed over generations.
The Robert Crowder Collection includes the Chinese Yellow-Ground Blue and White ‘Dragon’ Dish, Yongzheng mark and of the period. Painted in underglaze blue on an egg-yolk yellow ground, the dish centers on a five-clawed dragon pursuing a flaming pearl. The press release identifies the form as an exceptionally rare survival, with related bowls appearing more often than dishes of this pattern.
Military history and collecting history meet in material assembled by General Julian Neil Frisbie during his service in post-war China. A leading example is the Rare Chinese Underglaze Blue and Iron-Red Decorated ‘Dragon’ Bowl, Kangxi mark and of the period, whose twin dragons and cloud design demonstrate the combination of underglaze blue and overglaze iron-red associated with refined imperial production.
Jade and hardstone buyers can look to the Collection of a Bay Area gentleman, formed through decades of acquisitions in the United States and Asia. The Intricate Chinese Carved Pale-Celadon Jade Double-Handled Chained Vase with Cover is carved with a woven pattern that imitates a basket, showing the technical ambition possible within a single stone object.
The broader auction adds the Chinese Blue and White ‘Lotus’ Dish, Six-character Wanli mark and of the period, molded as a double-layered lotus bloom and decorated with auspicious Sanskrit characters. Painting collectors have another major entry point in Yuan Jiang, Fishing Scene, 1689, an early silk landscape completed when the Qing dynasty artist was eighteen.
For buyers, this is why Heritage can be a best place to buy Asian art: the catalog places imperial ceramics, technically complex jade carvings, scholarly paintings and documented private collections side by side, giving collectors the historical and provenance context needed to understand why each object matters.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release (September 11, 2025).