Dore & Rees is delighted to offer selected Chinese Rococo pieces from the Martin Laing Collection Part II in the Fine Asian Art auction on 11 November.

Martin Laing’s passion for collecting began at a young age, when at just 5 years old and living on a farm, he would stuff his pockets full of dead mice, bus tickets from his trips to school and anything else he could find of interest to add to his burgeoning collection.

As a teenager, Martin became a keen Bruce Lee martial arts fan and started to collect knives; he later took up karate at the age of 24. This newly discovered love for an ancient Japanese martial art moved Martin’s attention towards the Orient, and he began collecting Samurai swords and Japanese cloisonné.

Following a chance meeting with two of Asian Art’s leading dealers, Gerard Hawthorne and Roger Keverne, and upon seeing the Chinese treasures each were offering for sale - Martin knew instantly he must switch his focus towards China; immediately he set about selling his beloved swords and Japanese cloisonné to fund this new area of collecting. 

In the early 1990s Martin’s tree felling business folded and he was forced to sell part of his collection to support his family, but like all true collectors, he couldn’t help adding another exceptional piece. So, when offered an exceptionally fine Huanghuali alter table, and with little money to pay the £3500 asking price Martin struck up a deal with the seller and paid for the table over the following two years.

Sadly, Martin lost his wife to cancer in the early 2000s, and in his own words, what had been a fun pastime now became an obsession, seeking out better and rare pieces at every opportunity.  Whilst the majority of the pieces offered in the sale have been with him in his Perthshire home, some, and again not uncommon with collectors, have been tried or sold over the years at auction, either because they simply didn’t fit or that Martin needed some money to pay for a recent purchase. 

Martin’s hope now is that others will be able to enjoy these items as much as he has over the years. He has written a book on his collection, where his own views on the craftsmanship and purpose for these pieces of furniture are summised, ‘Chinese Rococo Furniture Fit for a Palace’.

This is the second auction of furniture from Martin’s collection, the first was held with great success at Duke’s Auctioneers in November 2020.