By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our Cookie Policy unless you have disabled them. You can change your Cookie Settings at any time but parts of our site will not function correctly without them.

 Reject
  • 1960

    To Begin At The Beginning

    1960

    Giuseppe Eskenazi and his father open an office in Piccadilly in London, initially to supply works of art to Eskenazi SRL, the art gallery in Milan run by their cousin Vittorio.  After the death of his father in 1967, Giuseppe took sole charge of the London office, increasingly developing his own clientele.

  • 1972

    Continuing Success

    1972

    In 1972, the continuing success of Eskenazi Ltd. prompted a move to larger premises on the first floor of Foxglove House, 166 Piccadilly.  The elegant new gallery was designed by John Prizeman, a past president of the Architectural Association, and opened its doors on 29th February 1972 for an exhibition that proved a runaway success with potential purchasers queueing (and sleeping on the pavement) for 24 hours before.  The same year, Philip Constantinidi joined the company as assistant to Giuseppe Eskenazi.
    (Image shows Summer Exhibition of 1973)

  • 1973

    The Summer Exhibition Of 1973

    1973

    Witnessed the visit of, among others, His Majesty King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.  Such was the pressure caused by the mass queueing of the previous year that a system was introduced incorporating timed sealed bids over a fixed reserve.  It cut the queues but proved unpopular with clients.  The cover piece of the exhibition, a Hongwu period ewer decorated in underglaze copper red, was sold to Mr Matsuoka of Tokyo.

  • 1978

    British Rail Tang Horse

    1978

    This horse, which may be considered among the finest in existence, was sold to the British Rail Pension Fund in 1978.  Eleven years later, having been kidnapped and held to ransom, it was sold by the Fund for a hammer price of £3.4m, probably earning for the Fund the highest return, in percentage terms, of all the artworks in its portfolio.

  • 1985

    25th Anniversary Celebration

    1985

    1985 marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of Eskenazi Ltd. and was celebrated with an exhibition highlighting the strengths of the gallery over the previous quarter century.  The exhibition of Chinese bronzes, ceramics, jades and early works of art was selected for the rarity of the items and their exceptional quality, acquired by Eskenazi over a period of ten years mainly from private collections and held aside for this event.  A highlight of this exhibition was a stunning you, a wine vessel or bucket with a handle, which dates back to the Shang dynasty.

  • 1991

    Inlaid Bronze And Related Material Exhibition

    1991

    Exhibition of inlaid bronze and related material from pre-Tang China.  One of the most groundbreaking of all Eskenazi's exhibitions, it featured a wealth of inlaid material that had probably not been assembled in such quality since before World War Two.  Many of the items in the exhibition now form part of the permanent collection of the Miho Museum in Shigaraki, Japan.

  • 1993

    Daniel Joins The Company

    1993

    Giuseppe's son Daniel joins the company.  In the same year, the firm moves to magnificent new premises at 10 Clifford Street, which it had acquired some eighteen months previously; the previous tenants had included a shirt maker, a boot maker, a once fashionable restaurant club and contemporary art dealers.  The warren of offices was cleared away to create a much-praised design by Jon Bannenberg, in association with the architects M.R. Partnership, that incorporated generous exhibition space, hundreds of metres of shelving for the ever expanding reference library, a boardroom, strongrooms and a large facility for archive storage.

  • 1997

    First Exhibition Outside London

    1997

    In March 1997, Eskenazi Ltd. held its first ever exhibition outside London, in New York, largely at the prompting of Daniel.  It proved wildly successful and sold out completely. This is now an annual Spring event.

  • 2000

    Millennium Exhibition

    2000

    In millennium year the gallery celebrated, not only the new century but also the 40th anniversary of the opening of the gallery in London, with a remarkable exhibition entitled 'Masterpieces from Ancient China' which focused on ten superb works of art, mostly bronzes, dating from the Shang to the Western Han period, shown in both New York and London.  The exhibition cemented the high repute in which the company is held worldwide.
     

  • 2002

    Two Porcelain Fish Jars

    2002

    This year, unusually, the London exhibition consisted of only two items - two large porcelain jars decorated with fish.  The earliest, of Yuan date, is painted in underglaze blue with four types of fish swimming amongst aquatic plants.  Only one other example appears to be known and is in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.  The second vase, some two hundred years later in date, Jiajing mark and period 1522-1566, is much more colourful, incorporating overlgaze enamels in red yellow and green typical of the period.

  • 2007

    Contemporary Ink Painters

    2007

    2006 and 2007 broke new ground by exhibiting the works of two contemporary ink painters, Arnold Chang and Li Huayi.  Both have been recently represented (November 2010) in 'Fresh Ink', an innovative exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

  • 2010

    50th Anniversary Exhibition

    2010

    2010 saw the Golden Jubilee of the founding of Eskenazi Limited and the occasion was marked by the ‘Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition: Twelve Masterworks’, the 74th since the Inaugural Exhibition in 1972. Twelve pieces were selected for their rarity, quality and outstanding beauty in a range of materials, amongst them a Western Zhou bronze wine vessel and cover, hu, from the 10th - 9th century BC; a Han dynasty gold kneeling figure of a shaman; a 3rd century BC glazed stone-paste ear-cup and a rare porcelain vase enamelled with a pair of dragons from the Yongzheng (1723 - 1735) period. 

  • 2011

    Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from a Private Collection

    2011

    2011 saw the first catalogue by Eskenazi devoted to classical Chinese furniture from the 16th to the 18th centuries from a private South African collection, although it was preceded by an earlier exhibition of huanghuali furniture in 2000.

  • 2012

    A Dealer's Hand

    2012

    A Dealer’s Hand, The Chinese Art World through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, was published in 2012. Covering the five decades of Giuseppe’s life as a key player in the art world and illustrated with over 500 of the most important pieces handled in his career, the volume also provides a fascinating insight into the rapidly changing Chinese art market.

  • 2012

    Qing Porcelain

    2012

    The 2012 November exhibition was the first entirely dedicated to Qing porcelain. Twenty pieces of imperial porcelain from one private collection were exhibited, one of the highlights being a famille rose ruby-ground pear-shaped vase from the Qianlong (1736 - 1795) period.

  • 2013

    Jun Wares

    2013

    ‘Junyao’ was the first exhibition by the company devoted entirely to one ware - Jun, with sixteen objects illustrating the development of the kiln from the Northern Song up to the early Ming period. Many of the vessels had been in the collections of distinguished figures including Lord Cunliffe, Mr and Mrs Brodie Lodge, Dr Arthur Sackler and Martine de Béhague, Comtesse de Béarn. Included was a lavender-blue flowerpot made for the Ming courts and inscribed in the eighteenth century with its designated location within the Forbidden City.

  • 2015

    A Dealer's Hand (Chinese Edition)

    2015

    2015 saw the publication of the Chinese edition of A Dealer’s Hand, following in the
    footsteps of the successful launch of the English edition in 2012.

  • 2015

    Transfigured Echoes: Recent Paintings by Liu Dan

    2015

    The work of renowned painter, Liu Dan, was exhibited in the gallery for his first
    European exhibition. It featured ten new paintings, six of rocks and four of large
    landscape paintings, one of them inspired by a drawing by Raphael.

  • 2017

    Six Dynasties Art from the Norman A. Kurland collection

    2017

    The first part of the Six Dynasties art collection of Norman A. Kurland was the
    highlight of the autumn season, followed in 2018 by the second part of his collection.

  • 2018

    Gogottes

    2018

    The spring exhibition was a milestone in the company’s history – it was the first
    dedicated to natural formations, ancient sandstone concretions known as gogottes.

  • 2019

    Room for study: fifty scholars' objects

    2019

    In October 2019, ‘Room for study’ was the first exhibition at Eskenazi Ltd. devoted to
    Chinese scholars’ objects. The fifty objects ranged from huanghuali furniture and a
    Song dynasty album leaf painting to scholar’s rocks and root-wood brush pots.

  • 2021

    Tang: ceramics, metalwork and sculpture

    2021

    ‘Tang: ceramics, metalwork and sculpture’ in October 2021 marked a return to the
    early material that the company has dealt with since its inception. Included were fine
    examples of silver objects, outstanding sancai-glazed earthenware objects and a
    rare and monumental dry lacquer head of a bodhisattva dating to the 8 th century.

 

Keep informed

Keep up-to-date with all the latest Chinese and Asian art news, events and exhibition items from Eskenazi.

We will only use the information you provide for the purpose of sending you updates.
Read our privacy policy