The Stoclet Stele
17th May 2023
A marble carving found nestled beside a fireplace has sold for over half a million pounds at auction after valuers linked it to an important European collector.
The Chinese stele (lot 408) is over a thousand years old and has stood for years in the corner of the owner’s living room until specialists from Woolley and Wallis visited the property and spotted its potential as a rare and early item.
It was once in the collection of Adolphe Stoclet, a Belgian engineer who commissioned the building of the famous Stoclet Palace in Brussels in 1907, and has not been seen on the open market in almost a century.
“This substantial carving dates from the Northern Qi dynasty (almost 15 centuries ago) and would have sat in pride of place as a venerated object,” explained head of Asian Art, John Axford. “It is beautifully carved with a figure of Buddha flanked by two bodhisattva and has stayed remarkably crisp despite its age. It has clearly been well cared for all its life.”
In 1913 the stele was exhibited in Paris at the Musée Cernuschi as part of an exhibition of Buddhistic art. It is also illustrated in the 1956 catalogue of Adolphe Stoclet’s collection, which was published in Brussels seven years after his death.
The carving is one of a number of lots from the Stoclet Collection included in the series of Asian Art auctions in Salisbury on 23rd and 24th May. It carried a pre-sale estimate of £40,000 – 60,000 but keen interest meant that a number of bidders both on the phone and in the room battled it out to a hammer price of £440,000. With buyer's premium added the total is £554,400.
“This is an exceptional price for an exceptional object, reflecting not only its rarity but also the significance of its provenance,” continued Axford.
The stele was the top lot of the Stoclet Collection on 24th May in the Fine Chinese Works of Art sale. The 17 lots totalled just over £1m (including premium).
