Paris Auction Spotlights Centuries Of Chinese Craftsmanship

A single auction in Paris is set to bring together more than 350 Chinese works, ranging from Song dynasty ceramics to Qing dynasty objects and Buddhist sculpture. Artcurial's Asian Art Auction will be previewed in a public exhibition on Saturday, June 6, before the sale on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at the Hôtel Marcel Dassault on the Champs-Élysées.

The breadth of the offering is part of its appeal. Ceramics, cloisonné enamels, jade carvings, painted enamels, and sculpture all appear in the sale, which also draws on several notable private collections. Among them is the collection of Baron and Baroness Vaxelaire, alongside the French private collection known as Le goût en hérigate, or“Taste as Heritage.”

One of the sale's anchors is a group of Qingbai porcelains from the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, prized for their pale-blue glaze and restrained forms. The Vaxelaire collection contributes additional vessels, including stemmed cups and ewers with provenances linked to European specialists such as Artcade Gallery and Ming-K'I Gallery.

The highlights also point to the range of the sale's historical reach. A pair of blue-and-white porcelain bottle vases from the Qianlong period, known as bangchui ping, is represented by an identical example in the permanent collection of the Nanjing Museum. A carved gray schist standing Buddha from Gandhara, dated to the 2nd-4th century, adds an early Buddhist dimension, while gilt-lacquered bronze sculptures of Guanvin and Puxian, traced to the Yuan and Ming dynasties, underscore the devotional and iconographic depth of the group.

For collectors, the auction offers more than a survey of Chinese material culture. It also reveals how these objects have moved through European collections, specialist dealers, and museum holdings, accumulating layers of meaning along the way. In that sense, the sale is as much about provenance and taste as it is about dynastic chronology.

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