Some keenly contested examples of Asian art featured in the large sale held by Schuler in Zurich on March 23-27.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Anne Crane

They included a 6in (15cm) high 20th century Chinese porcelain brush pot on a wooden stand which is delicately painted to the cylindrical body in famille rose palette with a winter landscape and a lakeside pavilion.

As well as an inscription below the rim, the piece has an iron red mark reading Xuren Zhushan to the base.

The mark relates to He Xuren (1882-1940), a member of the Friends of Zhushan group of Republican-era porcelain painters. A specialist in winter landscape painting, his work was frequently copied both during and after his lifetime. He used this mark c.1930-40.

The brush pot had a provenance to a Swiss private collection from 1975. It easily outstripped its SFr800-1200 estimate to take SFr18,000 (£14,500).

The Asian section also included a Chinese white jade oval plaque measuring 2½ x 2in (6 x 5.5cm) which had been in a Swiss private collection since the late 1950s.

Catalogued as dating to the first half of the 20th century, it was decorated in low relief with two figures while the reverse had an inscription and was signed Zigang. It too easily outpaced its SFr1500-2000 guide to take SFr20,000 (£16,130).