Strong Final Prices for Asian Treasures and Historic Documents

The popular Asian Fine Art Collection opened a packed auction day at Stockholms Auktionsverk in Stockholm. The sale attracted enthusiastic bidding from both Swedish and international collectors for everything from “Compagnie porcelain” to valuable objects from the most important imperial periods.

Among the highlights was a 14th-century wooden sculpture of an elegant Nepalese Tara (female Buddha), which sold for SEK 500,000 – as well as two 18th-century bowls decorated with “The Eight Taoist Immortals” and bearing the marks of Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing. The final price for the pair reached SEK 412,500.

A small yet exceptionally crafted peachbloom-glazed bowl from the Yongzheng period – only seven centimeters in diameter – also delighted bidders and sold for SEK 325,000.

“The market remains very strong for high-quality Asian art and artisanal crafts, especially when it comes to objects categorized as Chinese Taste. These are items from key imperial periods, made exclusively for the domestic Chinese market, and they demonstrate exceptional artisanal skill,” says Elisabet Fellbom, Specialist in Asian Art and Crafts at Stockholms Auktionsverk.

On Tuesday afternoon and evening, The Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts Collection transformed the auction room on Nybrogatan in Stockholm into a veritable time machine of cultural and scientific history. The works sold spanned a rich and diverse range – from the first book ever printed in Syriac in 1555 and Tycho Brahe’s Epistolarum Astronomicarum from 1610, to Axel Stake’s unpublished manuscript from Andrée’s Arctic expedition, Nobel laureate Marie Curie’s signed receipt for radium, and Greta Garbo’s private correspondence.

History was certainly palpable in the room when a check for SEK 20 million, made out to the world-famous Swedish industrialist Ivar Kreuger in November 1930, sold for SEK 125,000. During the Great Depression, Kreuger struggled with liquidity, and the check reveals that he effectively borrowed money from L M Ericsson (now: Ericsson) to acquire the company. Acquiring a company using its own funds is now prohibited.

“It’s incredible to see so many important historical touchpoints come to light, spark genuine interest, and find their rightful place in a single auction. Kreuger’s check is definitely one of those pieces that offers insight into the chain of events that triggered the stock market crash and deep personal tragedies of the 1930s – something that continues to resonate in today’s world of financial uncertainty,” says Katharina Fahlstedt, Head of the Department for Books, Maps & Manuscripts at Stockholms Auktionsverk.