Verte Biscuit Porcelain ‘Li Bai’ Water Pot and Haft Paikar Manuscript Lead Stair’s Asian Works of Art Sale

This fall, Stair will present its Asian Works of Art sale, representing cultures across many regions of the East, including China, India, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Among the highlights of the auction is a Chinese famille verte porcelain ‘Li Bai’ water pot from the Kangxi period. Tang dynasty poet Li Bai was acclaimed for his poetic genius, a reputation that has endured to the present day. Despite the innovation in style, Li Bai’s poems on love, loss, friendship, and wine were timeless, inspiring, and evocative of earlier periods. The available famille verte water pot depicts the drunken poet Li Bai reclining against a wine jar.

Another notable work in the catalog is a Persian manuscript, Haft Peykar, Sunday Bahram Gur Visits the Moorish Princess in the Yellow Pavilion, by Nizami Ganjavi, a 12th-century Persian poet. Also known as Seven Portraits, the Haft Peykar is the fourth narrative poem of the Khamsa of Nizami that recounts the legend of the Sasanian king of the fifth century, Bahram Gur. A major theme of this mystical poetry is self-knowledge and the poet’s view on love. The available gouache on paper manuscript is framed and is on two panels. Bidders can consider a Nepalese gilt-bronze figure of Shadakshari Lokeshvara, as well as a pair of Chinese marble temple guardians. Visit Bidsquare to find more information on the Asian Works of Art – October 5, 2023 event and browse other online auctions.