Asian art collection up for auction in London

A rare blue and white "dragon" Meiping from the Yuan Dynasty is among a collection of Asian art on sale at Sotheby's in London.

The collection of 94 lots was assembled over many years by Sam and Myrna Myers, two Americans living in Paris.

The couple moved to the French capital after falling in love with the city in the mid-1960s. Over the next five decades, they amassed a collection that offered a very personal vision of the world of Asian art, the auction house said.

Henry Howard-Sneyd, Sotheby's chairman of Asian Art, Europe and Americas, said: "I have never forgotten my first visit to Sam and Myrna's home on the outskirts of Paris almost twenty years ago. The taste of these two Americans in Paris — charmingly understated and remarkable unified — is sure to resonate with today's collectors and cement their determination to take a small part of it home with them."

Paris allowed the pair to immerse themselves in resources from museums and exhibitions to galleries and salesroom.

"Training their eyes and deepening their knowledge was a prerequisite as their collecting journey began to take on its own identity," Sotheby's said. "Four principal areas soon became apparent: archaic jades, Buddhist works from Asia, blue and white porcelain, and costumes from Central Asia to Japan — all comprising "the essential materials of Asian art", it added.

The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection of Asian Art, will be on sale on Nov 4 during Asian Art in London week, where it is estimated to bring in the region of 3 million pounds ($4.1 million).

Leading the sale is an important and exceptionally rare blue and white "dragon" Meiping from the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), with an estimate of 600,000 pounds.

Sotheby's said "though dragon and phoenix are ubiquitous in Yuan art, it is very rare to find a 3 piece of Yuan blue-and-white decorated with both these mythical creatures".

A Nepalese gilt bronze figure of Buddha from the 14th/15th century with an estimate of 350,000 pounds, and a collection of jade from the Neolithic period to the 19th century is also on sale.