Four Centuries of Blue & White

A special webinar with noted decorative arts expert Becky MacGuire, author of Four Centuries of Blue & White: The Frelinghuysen Collection of Chinese & Japanese Export Porcelain. Ms. MacGuire delves into the evolving commercial and cultural exchanges between East and West, with a particular focus on the collection’s rare, unusual and little-studied material.

The extraordinary Frelinghuysen collection, assembled carefully over 50 years, features an exceptionally wide array of Asian blue and white export porcelain—that most ubiquitous and influential of all ceramics. Ranging from rarities made at the height of the Ming dynasty, when Europeans first sailed to Asia, to commissions executed for the Thai royal court in the last decades of the Qing dynasty, the collection goes beyond iconic export classics to include pieces made for markets from Japan to the Islamic world. An intriguing counterpoint is provided by a full complement of Japanese export.

PARTICIPANT'S BIOGRAPHIES:
Becky MacGuire was the longtime senior specialist in Chinese export art at Christie’s and director of the firm’s New York Exceptional Sale. A frequent lecturer, she was an original appraiser on “The Antiques Roadshow” and a founding partner of The Chinese Porcelain Company. Ms. MacGuire is the author of Four Centuries of Blue & White: The Frelinghuysen Collection of Chinese & Japanese Export Porcelain, published by Paul Holberton Books (October 2023).

Lark Mason, Jr., founder and CEO of iGavel Auctions, is renowned for his regular appearances on “The Antiques Roadshow” and his expertise in Chinese art. He established Lark Mason Associates, an auction house with locations in New Braunfels, Texas, and New York City, specializing in Asian, ethnographic, and ancient works of art. He is a member of the Asia Week New York Planning Committee.