You can tell quality art dealers by how long they retain their clients. Sebastian Izzard’s relationship with his best client harks back to 1984.
“It is much more satisfying to build a relationship over time,” Izzard said. “It’s a process that takes place over years.”
One such long-term relationship with Catherine and Thomas Edson of San Antonio has resulted in an exhibition that has traveled in the U.S. as well as Japan. Izzard authored the catalogue accompanying the collection titled “The Genius of Shibata Zeshin: Japanese Masterworks from the Catherine and Thomas Edson Collection.”
“It is much more satisfying to build a relationship over time,” Izzard said. “It’s a process that takes place over years.”
One such long-term relationship with Catherine and Thomas Edson of San Antonio has resulted in an exhibition that has traveled in the U.S. as well as Japan. Izzard authored the catalogue accompanying the collection titled “The Genius of Shibata Zeshin: Japanese Masterworks from the Catherine and Thomas Edson Collection.”
“Once [I] sell something, although the buyer doesn’t realize it, it is still mine in my heart,” Izzard said. “So Mr. and Mrs. Edson’s collection … I still feel it’s my collection.”
Izzard’s own introduction to Japanese art goes back to his days as a student in London, when he caught sight of a print by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), according to his Web site. He bought the print and still owns it.
After graduating from the Chelsea School of Art, London, in 1973, he pursued Kunisada as a research topic and spent a year and a half in Japan. Izzard received his Ph.D. in 1980 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. A 17-year stint at Christie’s auction house readied Izzard for anything.
During Asia Week, Izzard is exhibiting celadons from Korea’s Koryo Court—such a collection has not been seen for sale in New York City for at least two generations, he says.
Celadon is a type of ceramic derived from China and refined in Korea. It is simple in shape but has a distinctive glaze and style. The true color of the glaze is similar to that when one looks into cracked ice, Izzard said.
Most of the pieces for sale were obtained in Japan and Scandinavia—it is illegal to export antiques out of Korea. “There were a lot exported before and after the war,” Izzard said. A lot of missionaries went to Korea and came out with celadons as gifts.
“This was obviously a really elegant culture, and these are very elegant pieces,” Izzard said. “The furniture would have all been rosewood and they’re all dressed in white—it would have been pretty elegant.”
The exhibit’s accompanying catalogue hails the Koryo dynasty (918-1392) as Korea’s golden age, with the celadons at their peak of perfection in the 12th century.
Izzard’s own introduction to Japanese art goes back to his days as a student in London, when he caught sight of a print by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), according to his Web site. He bought the print and still owns it.
After graduating from the Chelsea School of Art, London, in 1973, he pursued Kunisada as a research topic and spent a year and a half in Japan. Izzard received his Ph.D. in 1980 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. A 17-year stint at Christie’s auction house readied Izzard for anything.
During Asia Week, Izzard is exhibiting celadons from Korea’s Koryo Court—such a collection has not been seen for sale in New York City for at least two generations, he says.
Celadon is a type of ceramic derived from China and refined in Korea. It is simple in shape but has a distinctive glaze and style. The true color of the glaze is similar to that when one looks into cracked ice, Izzard said.
Most of the pieces for sale were obtained in Japan and Scandinavia—it is illegal to export antiques out of Korea. “There were a lot exported before and after the war,” Izzard said. A lot of missionaries went to Korea and came out with celadons as gifts.
“This was obviously a really elegant culture, and these are very elegant pieces,” Izzard said. “The furniture would have all been rosewood and they’re all dressed in white—it would have been pretty elegant.”
The exhibit’s accompanying catalogue hails the Koryo dynasty (918-1392) as Korea’s golden age, with the celadons at their peak of perfection in the 12th century.
Itoh Ikutaro director emeritus and curatorial adviser at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, wrote in the catalogue, “The fact that Koryo celadon has come to be recognized and loved all around the world is not only because its characteristic beauty is so unique, but also because it exhibits a universally shared tendency toward the classical.
“What exactly is this classicism in art? It is the desire to achieve a perfect expression permeating every detail of an object’s form that is based in a clearly ordered set of principles. Concretely speaking, in the case of ceramics, the form should be well balanced and instilled with grace, adorned with a harmonious and tranquil decoration, and finished with a beautiful glaze.”
Izzard is expecting interest in the celadons during Asia Week from Koreans, institutions, Chinese ceramic collectors, and private clients.
