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Offered for sale by the personal representative of the late Professor Peter Hariolf Plesch (-2013)
The Plesch Collections of Asian Art
Peter and Traudi Plesch both came to Britain as refugees from Nazi persecution. Peter Plesch left Berlin with his family in 1933, and Traudi left Vienna with her family in 1938. Both came from homes where art was appreciated.
A significant number of items from Peter's family were lent to the Jewish Museum of Berlin in 2004 for an exhibition illustrating the life of the professional Jewish bourgeoisie in Berlin between circa 1830 and 1933, one room of which was dedicated to the Plesch family.
Peter Plesch's father, Janos Plesch, was a doctor, amongst whose patients were some very well known people, such as John Maynard Keyns, but the most famous of them was Albert Einstein. From 1928 to 1933 Einstein spent time in the gardener's cottage of the Plesch family's country house, the villa Lemm on the river Havel at Gatow. Here he could avoid all kinds of unwelcome attention and sail his much-loved boat.
Einstein also seems to have enjoyed the company of young Peter and encouraged the latter's interest in science - gently explaining the practical difficulties of Peter's ingenious design for a perpetual motion machine. It would no doubt have pleased Einstein to see Peter become an internationally renowned scientist and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Keele.
A picture of Einstein with Peter and his siblings is in the catalogue for the sale of the Plesch's Antique Glass at Christies on 28th April, 2009.
It may be significant that the first antique purchased by Peter, whilst he was a student at Cambridge, was a Chinese silver hip flask, which he used for its proper purpose throughout World War II, only been made by a Hong Kong silver-smith in the 19th Century. However, his career as a real collector started much later, when in 1957 he inherited the very varied Chinese artifacts of his parents, and he realised that he knew very little about them. Ever the inquisitive scholar, Peter sought knowledgeable advice and found it at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair of 1958 where he met Adrian Maynard of Spink's Chinese Department, who became a trusted adviser and friend.
Peter established himself as a serious collector of Chinese ceramics when, in 1959, he acquired at Sotheby's for 2,200 the only piece of the extremely rare Ju ware that had been seen in the market for years. It is a "narcissus" bowl, oval, 22cm long, with a low rim on four low cabriole legs, covered with a unique purply-blue glaze. He entered the Guiness book of Records with the highest price ever paid anywhere for any kind of ceramic. When that piece was sold in 1970 for 46,000, it went into that publication a second time and for the same reasons, and that sale started the boom in Chinese ceramics.
It is clear that Traudi and Peter had thoroughly enjoyed collecting together. The fact that Peter had been frequently invited to attend international conferences and to give lectures on his specialist areas of research, provided the couple with splendid opportunities to search out treasures in antique shops in many parts of the world. Traudi said to many a shop-keeper:- "Please keep open till my husband has finished doing chemistry".
Peter claimed that Traudi is less adventurous than he, but that this had resulted in their making fewer mistakes among their purchases. Their final requirement before making any purchase was that they should both wish to possess the object, although not necessarily to the same extent or for the same reasons. Traudi and Peter were also very generous in providing access to their collections for students, scholars and fellow collectors.
A LARGE GILT-BRONZE MODEL OF BUDDHA
MING DYNASTY, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
Details
A LARGE GILT-BRONZE MODEL OF BUDDHA
MING DYNASTY, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
The serene figure is seated in dhyanasana and the hands held in bhumisparsamudra. The face has a calm expression, and the hair is tightly curled above the pendulous earlobes. The long robes are detailed with engraved scrolling lotus and draped over the shoulders, open at the chest revealing a swastika symbol. He is seated on a lotus base with a floral bracket to the back.
18 1/8 in. (46 cm.) high
MING DYNASTY, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
The serene figure is seated in dhyanasana and the hands held in bhumisparsamudra. The face has a calm expression, and the hair is tightly curled above the pendulous earlobes. The long robes are detailed with engraved scrolling lotus and draped over the shoulders, open at the chest revealing a swastika symbol. He is seated on a lotus base with a floral bracket to the back.
18 1/8 in. (46 cm.) high
Provenance
The Plesch Collections (BS 38).
Purchased by the parents of Professor Peter Plesch in India in 1929.
Purchased by the parents of Professor Peter Plesch in India in 1929.
Brought to you by
Cherrei Yuan Tian
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