FEATURES ARCHIVE

What fired your interest in the world of art?
When I was a teenager there was a period when I lived with my grandfather. He was an incredibly interesting man, very cultured, widely traveled and well-read. He collected contemporary art from his heyday in the first half of the 20th century and had many things in his house that would set my imagination to work including a wonderful library and, above all else, he had the time to spend with me, helping me understand each object, or painting, and how he came by it. Some years later I took the Fine and Decorative Arts programme at Christie’s Education before joining Christie’s here in Amsterdam.

You are well known for your expertise in the field of Asian Art in particular. What is it that captivates you about this field?
My father was a diplomat, so when I was a child I lived in many different countries including India and Japan, as well as traveling in Indonesia. It meant I was exposed to Asia very early on, from perhaps the age of two or three years old. In some ways it’s a coincidence because I didn’t set out to become a specialist in Asian Art having studied European Decorative Arts in the wider sense first. However, the opportunity arose to join the department training to become a specialist in Asian art and I took that chance.

Carrying out valuations must mean you have seen some interesting places, people and objects. What’s the most memorable situation you’ve found yourself in?
I received a call from someone who requested a valuation and they used an interesting expression – they said ‘I have some blue’, which in Dutch is quite an old fashioned way of referring to china, meaning ‘blue and white’. So, I immediately thought that it might be interesting as I thought that this implied it could be an old collection. I jumped into the car with a colleague and when we arrived at the house we found a number of relatively interesting objects and then suddenly we came across a jar and we stopped. It was something very special, and now I look back on it as a moment that happens maybe only once in a lifetime. This object was what has now come to be known as the van Hemert Jar which we sold at Christie’s in London, in July 2005, for £15,000,000 – still a world record for a Chinese work of art. It was the result of an extraordinary team effort internationally, involving the whole company and a remarkable moment in my career.

Tomorrow, if you could travel to one part of the world and bring something back, where would you go and what would you look for?
It would have to be a Japanese Enso which is an extremely restrained and beautiful type of scroll painting using a circle, sometimes open or closed in form. The circle is highly symbolic with many layers of meaning including elegance, strength, enlightenment, the void. It’s about the belief that there is one insightful moment when the mind is truly empty and free and these paintings capture and symbolize that moment. Although very traditional, the simplicity and abstraction is incredibly contemporary.

Your best friend has just moved into a new house. What would you choose from your forthcoming sale as that special house-warming gift?
Well, I would have to choose two pieces – one Eastern and one Western. There is a Chinese kraak porcelain bowl that I particularly like. It’s late Ming and dates to 16th century and is unusual in that it has Islamic inscription on the rim, which is a mixture of styles I have not seen before. It has a really honest feel about it which would really complete any room. Then there is a lovely 19th century Italian bench which has a coat of arms painted on it. It’s the sort of piece that is very warm and just makes you feel at home.