Adam's FINE ASIAN ART Part 1 June 29th 2021

22 A Private Collection Formerly the property of Juan Carlos Enrique Katzenstein Juan Carlos Enrique Katzenstein (1925-2018) was an Argentinian lawyer specialized in inter- national law who graduated from the National University of Buenos Aires, the Trinity College of Oxford, the Center for International Studies of Roma and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He started his career in law as a civil servant of the Nation Judicial Power (1944-1955), then as a Secretary of the Special Federal Court of the Capital (1950-1955) and later joined the foreign service in December 1955 to embrace a career in diplomacy. In 1975, he was appointed an ambassador to Beijing (1975-1978), China, where he most probably either was offered or bought this major scroll painting. From that time onwards, he spent days and months studying it thoroughly, writing letters to different scholars and getting the calligra- phy as well as the seals translated. The documentation which surrounds it is a testimony of both the passion and the peculiar attention that Mr. Katzenstein had for it. It is composed mostly of letters and correspondences, either sent or received by him years later, when he was an ambassador to the Holy See and to the sovereign Order of Malta, his last tenure, from 1989 to 1991. A prominent Diplomat, he was awarded numerous rewards, amidst which the Cross of Merit 1st class of the Order of Malta, June 15, 1960. His career path is highly impressive: - Ambassador to Brussels, Belgium (1972-1974); - Ambassador to Dhaka, Bangladesh (1974-1975); - Ambassador to Beijing, China (1975-1978) - Foreign Ministry Master of Ceremonies, Buenos Aires, Argentina (1978-1981) - Ambassador in Bern, Switzerland (1981-1986) - Ambassador to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Order of Malta, Vatican (1989-1991). He passed away in Buenos Aires, May 27, 2018. We are honoured to present at auction a selection of pieces from his estate amongst which, above all, the major ‘Hound’ scroll painting inscribed with the signature of the famous Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione also known as Lang Shining 世寧 (1688-1766). This scroll is impressive by its size and its refined quality visible in all the depicted details. Not only it does represent two hounds: it is a portrait of two dogs once owned by the Emperor Qianlong (1711–1799) himself, each having its own name, i.e. Moyuli 墨玉璃 (black and white) and Jinchixian 金翅猃 (brown and white). Both have been identified thanks to the “Album of the Ten-Prized Dogs” (十骏犬图) , an imperial-commissioned work by the above-mentioned painter housed in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. Along this major painting is that of mandarin ducks frolicking on a lotus pond inscribed with the signature of Yun Shoupin 惲壽平 also known as Nantian 南田 (1633–1690), maybe one of the if not the major painter of the 17th century.