MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Christie's is pleased to offer a selection of porcelain, jade carvings and works of art from the collection of Dr. Ralph W. Chaney (1890-1971). Dr. Chaney was a renowned paleontologist who collected porcelain and works of art throughout his lifetime of travels and scientific study in China and Japan. In 1925, he participated in the Third Central Asiatic Expedition to Mongolia, where the world's first discovery of dinosaur eggs was made, and he discovered the first fossilized redwood trees in Manchuria. He was a major participant in the search for the "Peking Man" at the Choukoutien Cave site and, in 1948, Dr. Chaney mounted a successful expedition to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China in search of the Metasequoia, a living species of redwood tree that was thought to be extinct. With science, Dr. Chaney lived his passion for discovery. He applied the same passion to his personal collecting.