Asian Works of Art

Provenance:

Nantucket, Massachusetts—the small island—only 14 miles across and yet somehow boasting 110 miles of coastline—famed for a scallops, lighthouses, and whaling is perhaps best known in the popular imagination as a seasonal enclave aptly suited for breezy seaside leisure. Fortunate swimwear-clad beachgoers gather around tiny grey shingled shops that line brick-paved roads, coast past billowing clouds of hydrangeas, and board recreational vessels moored in idyllic wharves. For one long-time resident, however, such idle leisure is not on the agenda. Always dressed in a suit and tie, David Billings, is ready for work and the work is the fun, as he has been for decades of carefully collecting and curating and inimitable collection of thousands of objects of Chinese art. Within his orbit, levity, joy, curiosity, and wonder are in no short supply. Together with wife and creative partner Beverly Hall Billings, they maintain what Steven Chait, president of the fine Chinese antique gallery Ralph M. Chait, calls ‘Nantucket’s best kept secret’.

To visit the Billings at their sprawling home/museum/garden/library/institute for higher learning and animal refuge, is to be suffused in joy, knowledge, passion, and curiosity. Such are the forces likely in play that joined the couple—David, a lifelong collector of Chinese art, and Beverly, daughter of the seminal snuff bottle collector and scholar, late Gerry P. Mack (1911-1992). Together, their union fosters a collecting spirit wherein each object unfolds a story and each story leads to another object. They are generous with both across space and time—locally, their intimate private museum is open for all, and globally, they share with museum exhibitions and publications. The couple recently collaborated at invitation from the Nantucket Historical Association Whaling Museum to stage a comprehensive show, Asian Treasures from The Billings Collection, and have also published an award-winning catalogue, the aptly titled Passion and Pursuit: The Billings Collection, to document their lifelong journeys through Asian art.

This fall, they have further opened their doors to initiate a series of sales chronicling their lifelong journey love of collecting Chinese art, beginning now, with a selection of porcelains, snuff bottles, and textiles from the Qing dynasty.

南島客：畢凌思夫婦家藏

南島，是南塔基特島的簡稱。從波士頓開車兩小時，再搭渡輪一個鐘，抵達這座原住民土稱「遙遠的島嶼」。歷史上是捕鯨業中心，名著《白鯨記》在此啓航。近代是度假勝地（總統拜登家族在此歡度感恩節已有46年）。小衆、昂貴、私密，是絕大多數人對南島的第一印象：不到三百平方公里的土地只開發三分之一，房價堪比紐約，夏季小小機場起落如織，吞吐東岸飛來的豪客嬌蟲、寶馬香車。

「以前還不是這樣哩！」畢凌思夫婦說。他們是島上的老住客，戴維德祖輩在此養老，他從地產行業退休後也在此定居。貝芙莉64年買下一棟小木屋，幾十年度假到長居，木屋改造成鄉村別墅。千禧年以前，島上常住人口只有幾千，鵝卵石街道還是19世紀模樣，捕鯨隊長的宅邸們還未被改造成豪華度假屋，綠苔芳草，月明風裊，碧水人家繞。

一個偶然的機會，我們與畢凌思夫婦結緣。任誰都想不到在這遙遠的海島上有一座東方庭院。深聊下去才曉得這不是偶然而是必然。貝芙莉娘家姓麥珂，她的父親正是鼎鼎大名的Gerry P. Mack，鼻烟壺協會的創始人之一。麥珂不但是鼻烟壺大玩家，也藏有廣博的中國藝術。92年去世後委托蘇富比在紐約、倫敦、香港分三個專場賣出，還留有大批文玩給女兒。戴維德則自學成才，因爲入場早，還沒有那麽多贋品魚目混珠。迄今他仍保留73年在埃斯卡納齊第一場展銷會購買的一件陶器。半世紀市場品味之瞬息萬變，都凝結在他家小小客廳。

老夫婦決定分批割愛，一是年近耄耋，二來子女志不在此。疫情三年給了他們很好的緩衝——從各個博物館召回借展藏品，請攝影師拍照片，請設計師排圖錄。當圖錄完成印刷，當疫情告一段落，離別的愁緒也拾掇好了。我們交談契闊，一見如故。這個秋天開始分批付諸市場，計劃用幾年的時間從民國晚清過渡到宋元高古，不負兩代人呵護之珍。