A scholarly eye: masterworks from J. J. Lally & Co.

Recognised as one of the great scholar-dealers of Chinese art, James Lally has been a leader in the field for more than 40 years. On 23 March, a live auction at Christie’s in New York will feature 138 objects from his namesake gallery, J. J. Lally & Co. The auction will also be accompanied by the sale of the gallery's famous library, which will take place online from 15-30 March. 

After graduating from Harvard College and Columbia University, Lally joined another major New York auction house, where he held many positions within the Chinese art department and helped found the Hong Kong branch in 1974. In the mid-1980s, Lally was appointed the house’s president in North America, where he continued to foster strong relationships between New York and Asia.

In 1987, after nearly two decades in the auction business, Lally left to open J. J. Lally & Co. on East 57th Street. The gallery helped to establish New York as a major centre of commerce for Chinese art and allowed Lally to concentrate on his own specific interests, particularly early ceramics, ritual bronze vessels, archaic jade carvings and sculpture. 

Lally brought a learned approach to his work, publishing detailed, scholarly catalogues that have remained important reference guides within the field. ‘When he first started cataloguing early in his career, he really spearheaded the way that objects were presented, including archaeological references and relevant research,’ says Margaret Gristina, Christie’s senior specialist in Chinese Works of Art. ‘This meticulous approach continued when he produced his own exhibitions and catalogues.’

In the main space of J. J. Lally & Co., which closed in 2020, objects were displayed in a museum-style setting, while the library in the back — stocked with reference books, museum publications and auction house catalogues from 1970 through 2020 — allowed for quiet contemplation and study. Lally’s reputation for scholarship and connoisseurship made him a trusted advisor to museums and collections across the globe. 

The collection of J. J. Lally & Co. demonstrates the broad range of artefacts that Lally dealt in. The objects in the sale span from the Shang dynasty through the Qing dynasty and include archaic bronzes, sculpture, early ceramics, imperial porcelains as well as works of art, porcelain, silver and stone. 

A rare Guan bottle vase embodies Lally’s passion for the Song dynasty, a flourishing era from 960 to 1279 that is characterised by a booming economy and vibrant culture, which included significant advancements in the arts.

The vase, made for use at the Southern Song court, reflects the sophisticated aesthetic of the Chinese imperial court. The glaze on Guan wares, bluish in tone, is thick and deliberately crackled. These objects would first be fired without glaze and then fired again after each successive application of glaze, sometimes up to five times. With each firing, the possibility of objects breaking in the kiln increased, adding to their scarcity. The unpredictability of the pattern of crackles also ensured that no two vases were alike, making this a particularly coveted treasure. 

‘Beyond its rarity, it’s in excellent condition and has distinguished provenance,’ says Gristina. The vase was once owned by Stephen Winkworth, a founder of the Oriental Ceramic Society, as well as the famed Swedish collector Carl Kempe, an industrialist and philanthropist known for his collection of masterworks from the Tang and Song dynasties. A similarly-shaped Guan vase is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. 

Another noteworthy example from the Song dynasty is a qingbai ‘sheng player’ ewer. Qingbai, a type of porcelain identified by a white glaze with a bluish-green tint, was enormously popular during the Song dynasty, and was one of the first examples of Chinese porcelain to be produced on a large scale.

‘It’s a very rare model in the shape of a female musician playing this reed pipe instrument called the sheng,’ says Gristina. The musician wears flowing clothing and a floral headdress. A similar model, Gristina notes, is in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the many institutions Lally worked with throughout his career. 

Lally’s eye for rarities is also underscored in the ‘peacock feather’-glazed mallet vase. Impressed with the Yongzheng imperial mark on its base, the vase dates to the short reign of the Qing dynasty’s fourth emperor, that lasted from 1723 through 1735. 

The mottled appearance of the surface is achieved by applying a turquoise glaze spotted with copper and made opaque through the addition of arsenic. ‘There are variations of the mottled purplish-blue glaze, and the robin's egg versions are more commonly found,’ says Gristina. ‘The “peacock feather” glaze seen here is built from the same ingredients but is more dynamic in the way it’s feathered and mottled.’

The mallet shape drew inspiration from the distinctive mallet-shaped vases produced by the Longquan kilns during the Southern Song dynasty. ‘These examples are quite rare, and the clean, simple lines of the mallet form exhibit the richness and variety of the glaze in a full 360-degree manner,’ says Gristina. ‘Every way you look at it, you see something different.’ 

Through rapid changes within the Chinese art market over the decades, Lally has remained an authoritative and respected figure, always admired for his rigorous scholarship and meticulous research. The variety of objects highlight Lally's signature marriage of academic and aesthetic appreciation, and celebrate the extraordinary contribution the gallery has made to the appreciation and understanding of Chinese art.