Heavenly Harmony: Gorgeous jade necklace shines at auction

Say what you like, but you can seldom accuse Christie’s Hong Kong of over-hyping forthcoming sales. Its recent Magnificent Jewels Autumn Auction, for instance, did exactly what it said on the tin, with a truly spectacular selection of precious stone-encrusted items – rings, bracelets, earrings – all going under the gavel.

Every event, of course, needs a star turn and this singular sale didn’t disappoint on that front either. Despite stiff competition from several fine items, the piece that definitely topped the “oohs” and “aahs” table was, by common consent, a necklace, one exquisitely fashioned from jadeite and spinel (a prized cousin of the more highly-regarded ruby).

Admiringly known as Heavenly Harmony – a tribute to its superlative blend of exotic jewels and expert pairing – this rare piece ultimately commanded a purchase price of HK$73.5 million, some $20 million more than any other lot on offer. Described as having “the most vivid green tone,” the necklace is formed from two different rough stones, but so artfully do they segue that it is all but impossible to determine quite where one begins and the other ends.

Rock and Scroll: Ancient Chinese scroll by Su Shi smashes auction record

A crucial chunk of classical Chinese history resurfaced during Christie’s Hong Kong’s recent Beyond Compare: A Thousand Years of the Literati Aesthetic auction, when an ancient Chinese scroll – Wood and Rock by Su Shi, an 11th century Chinese statesman and poet – came up for sale. It eventually went for more than HK$463 million (US$59 million), making it the most expensive object ever sold by Christie’s in Asia.

For those still stunned by the price tag, a little background information may make it a little more digestible. Su Shi – a writer, poet, painter, calligrapher and statesman – was, arguably, the single most important political and literary figure of the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), a man who undoubtedly hugely enriched Chinese culture with his paintings, poems, essays and travelogues.

The scroll in question is said to be one of the great artist’s more mature works and depicts withered trees, grotesque rock formations and stormy seas all across an expansive of 27.2cm x 543cm canvas. Crucially testifying to its provenance, there is also an accompanying calligraphy courtesy of Mi Fu, a renowned painter and calligrapher himself, and a contemporary of Su Shi.

Dragon and On: Reptilian relic dragon ring remains unfaded and unjaded

The dragon, that most legendary of Chinese mythological creatures, has traditionally been associated with power and potency. Indeed, along with its ascendancy over all things elemental, the might and majesty of this winged wonder is said to be bestowed upon only the luckiest and most worthy of folks, surely a sign that the victor in a recent dragon-centric auction at Christie’s Hong Kong must, indeed, be of cast-iron character and undebatable demeanour.

Whatever their actual stature, they are fortunate indeed to have outbid all comers in pursuit of the 2,200-year-old Jade Dragon Ring, which ultimately went under the hammer for US$1.1 million (HK$7.9 million). Said to be one of the few extant artifacts from the time of the Warring States era, one of the less-edifying chapters in the saga of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-9AD), this astonishingly well-preserved 9.5cm-wide ring has somehow managed to maintain its exquisite design over the centuries, with just a touch of opaque white-coloured calcification. Say what you like about the Western Han, they knew a thing or two when it came to leaving a leitmotifed legacy.

Peacock Necklace: Kashmir sapphire and higher valuations

While Kashmir may have been a hotbed of unrest for several decades now, such turmoil is yet to taint the reputation of the region’s stunning sapphires, famous the world over for their rich deep blue colouring. Now a truly fine example of these most precious stones, as featured in the Peacock Necklace – a stunning sapphire-and-diamond necklace – was just auctioned by Christie’s Hong Kong. The piece, which originally featured an estimate price of between US$12 million and US$15 million, did not disappoint when it went under the hammer last week. The Kashmir sapphire and diamond necklace’s final sale price stood at a staggering US$14.96 million.

All originally mined from the remote Padder region in Kishtwan district, some 21 dazzling shards of Kashmir sapphires, together with an array of brilliant diamonds, adorn this unique necklace, with the gems said to total some 109.08 carats. The centre stone alone weighs an astonishing 10.56 carats, which makes it extremely rare and valuable among sapphires, as finding a single stone of such quality and weight is almost unheard of. And when you also factor in the masterly craftsmanship behind the entire suite of gems, it’s no surprise that the attention of the whole haute joaillerie world was focused on this most luxurious of lots.

Jewel Narrative: The extraordinary stories behind the world’s most sought-after gems

Jewels have always been a source of fascination, obsession and intrigue. Precious stones have been the inspiration for heist movies, romance novels and murder mysteries ever since we started putting pen to paper. In the case of these beguiling bedazzlers the truth is even stranger than fiction.

The Nawanagar Necklace

In 1931, Jacques Cartier was commissioned by the Maharajah of Nawanagar to create a necklace formed of two strands of diamonds. Eight weeks later Cartier declared the arrangement “the finest cascade of coloured diamonds in the world”. The illustrious treasure featured seven of the rarest diamonds in the world, including the Ranjitsinhji diamond, and weighed six pounds. It mysteriously disappeared after the Maharajah’s death in 1933 and is presumed to have been broken down into smaller untraceable designs. If that sounds familiar it was also the fate that befell “Le Toussaint”, the fictional necklace which was the target of the grand heist in the movie Ocean’s 8, the design of which was based on this very necklace.

The Black Star of Queensland

In the 1930s, a boy called Roy Spencer was playing in a field near Anakie in Queensland Australia. He found a large, heavy greyish stone and carried it home with him, where it was used to prop open the porch door for the next nine years. Once Roy’s miner father Harry clocked that his doorstop might be worth a buck or two, he put it up for sale. It was eventually bought by Armenian jeweller Kazanjian who studied the stone for two months before cutting it. In cutting out the cabochon, Kazanjian lost 423 carats before finally revealing an immaculate six-pointed star within the stone – despite the lost carats, The Black Star remains the second-largest sapphire in the world. The stone now belongs to Swiss Gabrielle Grohe after she purchased it for her then-boyfriend Jack Armstrong. After they split Armstrong tried to claim ownership of the sapphire but couldn’t come up with the cash to buy Grohe out.

The Moon of Baroda Diamond

Fewer gems can boast a more impressive lineage than the Moon of Baroda, which came from the very same Golconda mine which bore the Koh-I-Noor and the Hope diamonds. From the mine The Moon went to the Gaekwad family, the Maharajas of Baroda, who lent it to the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria for a period. It has been looted by Persian ruler Nadir Shah before being returned to Baroda and lent to Marie Antoinette before being bought by Meyer Rosenbaum in 1943. The diamond was finally cemented in pop culture history when it was lent by Rosenbaum to Marilyn Monroe so she could wear it in the iconic hit Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

But the extraordinary story of The Moon of Baroda is far from over. The pendant is coming up for auction at Christie’s Hong Kong on 27 November. Weighing 24.04 carats the canary yellow stone is estimated to go for a staggering HK$4-6 billion. Fancy!

Text: Alice Duncan

Hermès bags: How much is too much for a clutch?

With handbags now just as valued for their aesthetic appeal and investment value as for their durability and capacity, it should be no surprise that at the very forefront of this trend are two of the very finest examples of lady luggage ever produced by Hermès, the Paris-headquartered high-fashion luxury goods manufacturer – the Birkin and the Kelly.

Indeed, these two collections alone account for 90% of all the haute couture handbags that ever come up for auction. Their auctionability, though, is down to much more than just their desirability, with availability also playing a huge role. Typically, even those fortunate enough to get on a waiting list will have to endure a two-year interval before their very own Hermès materialises.

Inevitably then, this has inspired a bristling resale market, with many haute couture hankerers only too happy to pay well over the odds to secure their preferred choice of Hermès clutch. Even against such a backdrop, though, it is still somewhat remarkable that a joint lot of two 2010 Birkins went for a massive US$330,000 at the recent Handbags and Accessories Sale held by Christie’s Hong Kong.

Zao’s Wows: Abstract works by Zao Wou-Ki go for unrecognisable figures

One artist above all dominated proceedings at Christie’s Hong Kong’s 20th Century Asian & Contemporary Art Sale – Zao Wou-Ki, with many of the esteemed abstract master’s works going for well beyond their original estimates.

One such piece was the enigmatically titled 14.12.59, which eventually went for a remarkable US$22.5 million, nearly double its initial estimate. Tellingly, even those unsteeped in the arcane nuances of the fine arts world confessed themselves drawn by the primeval force of this painting by Zao Wou-Ki, with its bold red and black hues embodying passion, fire, blood and life itself.

02.11.59, another of the Beijing-born artist’s classic works in oil, which sold for US$12 million, again reflects the battle between the light and the dark, one of Zao’s most abiding motifs. With both works completed in 1959, part of their value is derived from the rare insights they offer into the late painter’s more mature artistic vision. With the value only set to soar as the posthumous reputation of Zao Wou-Ki continues to build, his works seem to offer that rarest combination – aesthetic delight and escalating investment value.

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay