NORTHERN SONG-JIN DYNASTY (AD 960-1234)

Born in Patna, in the ancient northern Indian state of Bihar, Karen Beagle left for England in 1983 where she eventually opened an antique gallery in London’s Notting Hill with her husband Allan. Karen later honed in her skills as a specialist in Buddhist art from India, Tibet and China. Surprising many of her friends, Karen moved to Hong Kong in 2010 where she bought an old village house set on a foot hill above a private stretch of beach on the tranquil island of Peng Chau. Aside from her career in the antique world, Karen spent much of her time and energy taming the over-growth of her rambling garden and successfully turned it into neat terraces where her numerous guests enjoyed idling away the early evening hours watching the sunset over her veranda, and discussed exciting plans of impending visits to cultural sites in Asia. Around a decade ago, Karen decided to collect early ceramics as this was very different to her specialist area of Buddhist art. The group of eighteen lots represented here are some of her favourite pieces for which she appreciated the simplicity of the glazes and their elegant forms.