By Jonathan & Jeremy Sweet

Our parents, Eva and Aubrey Sweet, developed a fine collection of Asian art over a period of sixty years. The walls of their house in Melbourne were decorated with Japanese prints, and the shelves were filled with books and catalogues on many aspects of Asian cultures. The rooms were colourful and informal. Central were the collections of Chinese jades and Japanese lacquer and netsuke. Translucent jade was displayed in light filled cabinets and a disused bedroom was repurposed for looking at lacquer and netsuke. With its antique Chinese furniture and subdued lighting, we humorously dubbed this former bedroom ‘the Museum’, as it reflected the approach our parents took to collecting. In the main they were modest, private and intuitive collectors, but their emotions were tempered by a systematic approach. Their connoisseurship matured over many years through the processes of looking, handling and reading, and through the social and intellectual engagement with other people – collectors, curators, conservators, dealers and artists – who were similarly passionate about Asian art.

In the 1950s, our grandfather presented them with a large ivory okimono of a daikon seller he had purchased at a local auction house and their curiosity was kindled. They embraced a more widely held awareness of Asian cultures, and they started to travel abroad. They become captivated by netsuke, and during the 1970s they purchased examples from Ashkenazie & Co and Bernard Hurtig in the United States and Yamato Bros. in Japan. Our father liked to hold these tactile netsuke in his hand, marvelling at compact designs and intricate carving, as he introduced us to the symbolism and mythology.

Our father was a doctor in general practice and somewhat esoterically at the time, he studied acupuncture in Beijing – later using it for the treatment of some patients. In the early-1980s, our parents visited China several times and developed an appreciation of the scholar’s table and the sophisticated aesthetic and scholarly values that this tradition embodied. They went onto acquire fine jades in Hong Kong from W. H. Yeung & Co and the Jade House in Kowloon and purchased a rare ‘feline beast’ from Jade & Oriental Art in San Francisco. Alongside their travels they read widely and developed an extensive reference library. They selected books from lists sent by Han-Shan Tang and other booksellers and read magazines such as the Arts of Asia, Orientations and the International Netsuke Collector Society (INCS), which arrived at the house every month or so.

My parents frequented London regularly and the collection of jades grew through visiting established firms – S. Marchant and Son, Spink & Son, Knapton Rasti and Sydney L. Moss – where they handled pieces and built longstanding friendships with knowledgeable and well-connected specialists, especially Richard and Stuart Marchant, Roger Kaverne and Paul Champkins.

In the sphere of Japanese art, they associated with members of the Japanese Kenkyukai and participated in Netsuke Conventions around the world. They met and were inspired by Raymond Bussell and other collectors, and they purchased beautiful examples of lacquer and netsuke from Eskenazi, Barry Davies Oriental Art and Sydney L. Moss amongst others. In the process they became friends with Luigi and Rosemary Bandini, Nelly Davies and Paul Moss.

Notably, this circle included the Australian contemporary netsuke artist Susan Wraight, whose works are held in the British Museum and the Office of the President, White House. Our parents developed a meaningful friendship with Sue, and they purchased superb netsukes from her. They valued the work of contemporary artists and supported the preservation of traditional art and craft skills.

In part the lacquer collection was shaped by their association with Lesley Kehoe, a gallerist, recognised by the Japanese Government as a cultural ambassador, who sought out rare examples of lacquer in Japan. In 1987, my parents acquired a magnificent pair of Edo lacquer boxes from her that depicted the pine studded shores of the famous Sumiyoshi Taisha Shrine and its environs. They were very proud to become the custodians of these aesthetically and historically significant examples of lacquer, and as a result, it would be fair to say that, during the past 35 years these boxes were rarely shown to visitors. Furthermore, it is almost certainly true that they are now being publicly displayed for the first time in their 250-year history.

Leslie Kehoe also introduced them to the beautiful lacquer work of Unryuan (Kitamura Tatsuo), a Japanese Living Treasure, and perhaps the most outstanding contemporary lacquer artist of the late twentieth century. He was honoured with a solo exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 2002. Over several years our parents acquired a range of important works produced in his Wajima studio. These included a beautiful inro commissioned for the Arts of the Pacific Asia Show in New York in 2001, to commemorate the Year of the Snake. Our mother was almost 80 years old when she visited Kitamura’s studio and naturally, she added several more examples of contemporary lacquer to the collection.

Our parents delighted in telling stories associated with the different pieces in their possession and curious visitors to the house were often intrigued and inspired. When we visited, however, my brothers and I had the luxury of handling our favourite netsukes in ‘the Museum’ or taking a moment out of our busy days to contemplate the beautiful jades. Thus, we came to appreciate that not only had our parents built a unique collection of great quality, depth and beauty, but also that their life-long fascination with Asian art could never be completely satisfied, there was always something to add. Our parents were well resourced and accomplished collectors, and for over half a century, the processes of developing and interpreting their collections were integral to their life together and to how they saw themselves. They also understood that private collections are transient; and so, they would be very pleased to see that fellow travellers now have an opportunity to enjoy and acquire these exquisite works of art, chosen from the Eva and Aubrey Sweet Collection.

Jonathan and Jeremy Sweet