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This September during Asia Week, Oakridge will hold a four-day auction offering a range of Chinese art spanning the Han dynasty to the Republic period. With over 800 lots, the sale features lots by prominent artists such as Huang Zhou, Zhang Daqian, Huang Jun and Zhang Zhiben with lots also representing multiple major collections. The sale will be held from Thursday, September 15 to Sunday, September 18. This sale offers a diverse repertoire of Asian Art: intricately carved jades, to a diverse collection ceramics displaying various techniques and forms, to calligraphies and paintings showcasing a variety of subjects and compositions. The sale also includes a snuff bottle sale consisting of delicately carved, painted, and embellished bottles largely from the 18th and 19th centuries. Oakridge is pleased to offer live bidding, telephone and absentee bidding, as well as online bidding on Oakridge Live, Live Auctioneers, Invaluable, and HiBid.

Throughout centuries, calligraphy has been one of the highest forms of art in Chinese society, valued above other visual arts such as painting. The gestural nature of composing characters and the structural variability allowed by the fluidity of traditional ink and brush result in a highly unique and personal script, often seen as telling as the words themselves. A prime example of unique and gestural script can be seen in Zhu Dequn’s interpretation of "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge" by Zhang Ji. Zhu Dequn's calligraphy breaks free from the restrictions of orthodox Chinese art through the integration of calligraphy with abstract oil painting, where wild cursive writing and unbridled abstract forms complement each other. This unique piece of calligraphy is coming to auction this September during Oakridge’s Asia Week sales featuring a Chinese paintings and Calligraphy sale on Thursday September 15th starting at 9am EDT. View lot 34, estimated at $5,000-8,000 with a starting bid of $2,500.

Now called the Peking stitch, the Forbidden Stitch is an intricate knotted stitch commonly found on textiles from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Though its exact origin is unknown, it is thought that the stitch evolved from the western French stitch, which may have been introduced in China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when China greatly expanded its trade routes and began establishing ties with the western world. Legend is that embroiderers with mastery of the stitch went blind from the strain of repeatedly tying such small knots, so the stitch was forbidden by the government. More likely, the name of the stitch derives from the “Forbidden City,” the imperial palace where the emperors female servants were highly skilled stitchers. The Forbidden City served as the center of Chinese government for 500 years until the formation of the Republic of China in 1912 having as many as 3,000 concubines of the emperor during the mid 19th-century. Among other duties, these women were tasked with making lavishly intricate garments for the imperial court, often employing this stitch.