清 陳白康製宜興紫砂瓶 The globular body painted with mountain and river landscape, and plum blossoms around the neck. Yellow toned ground. Impressed seal mark Chen Baikang Zhi to base, Qing dynasty. H. 42cm (16 1/4 in.)Provenance: The George Crofts Collection, with George Crofts number 370 marked in black ink to base, also shown in George Crofts archival photograph (Photo © Royal Ontario Museum). Deaccessioned from The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, in 1969.____________A.H. Wilkens is honoured to be offering this catalogued collection of Chinese antiques in our October 29th auction. Enclosed in this catalogue are nearly 200 lots of Chinese and Japanese antiques held privately for decades.Under the direction of Peter Swan, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) was mandated to deaccession a portion of their collection in 1969. Dealing with issues of space within their building, the Far Eastern department culled their holdings and decided to sell off duplicates, damaged pieces, and objects beyond the scope of their collection’s mission statement. The history of the ROM’s Far East core holdings is founded on the hard work of Dr. Charles Currelly, the museum’s first director in 1918, and George Crofts, who was active during the first quarter of the 20th century. Founded in 1896, Crofts’ fur trade business in Tientsin (now Tianjin) provided him the opportunity to purchase Chinese objects and antiques throughout the country. He carefully photographed each object to assist in pre-selling pieces to institutions and collectors before they reached the Western world. During this time, the ROM amassed over 6000 objects from Crofts’ purchases and private collection. Crofts’ original photographs were later bound into 21 albums and donated to the ROM at the end of his career in 1921. Today they are held in the Museum library and were referenced for this auction, as noted in this catalogue.Crofts’ diaries and log books confirm he had access to significant collecting sites. Although there was some later speculation, the Ming Tomb relics held in the ROM collection since 1921 and their confirmed remains associated with the famed Chinese General Zu Dashou (c.1565-1656) corroborated the scope of his access.Crofts’ pieces can easily be identified by the heavy black inked three to four digit sequences, found on many of the pieces in this collection and on display in the Museum galleries. Further NA and NB number sequences are marked on more pieces, which are identified as ROM accession numbers attained while under the directorship of the University of Toronto prior to the 1960s. Some of these numbers provide additional identifying information, including the date of acquisition and how the funds were donated for the purchases. A final set of nine-digit numbers (beginning with 9) correspond to the current ROM numbers.The consignment on offer includes objects with direct purchase provenance to S.M. Francks and funding from Mrs. H.D. Warren, the wife of the founder of Dominion Tire and Rubber and later a key member of the ROM board and a major benefactor. Both Francks and Warren are identified in the original ROM log books for the purchase of lot 1055, the Yongzheng brushpot.Further pieces in this catalogue hold a reputed provenance to the descendants of Bishop White, the second director of the Far East Department at the ROM.A.H. Wilkens is honoured to offer this private consignment held discreetly since 1969._____________A.H. Wilkens將於10月29日榮幸呈現重要亞洲藝術專場拍賣。本圖錄涵蓋此單一來源收藏中近兩百件（套）中國和亞洲精品古董藝術品。位於多倫多市中心的皇家安大略省博物館（ROM）是加拿大最大的世界文化和自然歷史博物館。館藏的幾萬件中國古董藝術品無論數量還是質量都堪稱世界頂級的海外文物寶庫。其中很大一部分藏品源于20世紀初期在中國天津做皮毛生意的英國商人喬治·克羅夫茨（George Crofts）。1918年，皇家安省博物館的第一任館長查爾斯·柯雷利（Charles Currelly）去到中國，克羅夫茨（Crofts）協助他購買收集了大量文物藏品。克羅夫茨（Crofts）以他在天津的皮毛倉庫作為古董集散地，並將他收集到的每一件藏品都拍照編號並存檔。 克羅夫茨（Crofts）在其晚年捐贈給了安省博物館這些文物照片共21冊作為檔案保留。今人通過克羅夫茨（Crofts）留下的眾多旅行日誌和黑白照片中可得知他那時對中國的文物市場認知和文物征集能力非同小可，如從其經手並入藏皇家博物館的明代祖大壽墓整體遺存中可窺見一斑。在1969年，安省博物館在館長Peter Swan的指導下退藏賣出了部分重複性亞洲藏品。本次拍賣多數藏品皆來自1969年這次退藏，並被加拿大本地私人收藏家收藏近50年，所有藏品皆為首次​​進入拍賣市場之逸品。此次拍賣的古董藝術品囊括了從明朝到清朝的精品瓷器，木雕佛像和家具等。克羅夫茨（Crofts）的相冊保留至今，也是這次拍賣藏品的重要參考文獻。多數藏品上依然保留著原始三位至四位數黑色編號，並可與相冊中的多張照片相對應，堪為非常難得的流傳資料。除克羅夫茨（Crofts）的黑色數字編號外，此次拍賣中多件藏品還保留了安省博物館早年以NA或NB格式開頭的序列號以及目前使用的以9開頭的博物館編號，通過這些編號可在安省博物館檔案中查到包括收藏日期，捐贈人，展覽歷史等信息。經查，部分藏品更早於克羅夫茨（Crofts）時代，如雍正官窯仿生木紋釉筆筒（第1055號）由 H.D. Warren女士1911年出資購自英國古董公司S. M. Franck。