Fine arts: Eastern promise

With antique treasures from China, Japan and Tibet, Adam’s Asian sale should have plenty for fans of the Orient

Collection of 19th-century silver items from Tibet

In China, for centuries, the Imperial Seal was the ultimate rubber stamp, used to establish legitimacy and to authenticate documents. One carved in 1787 from a block of jade incised with the inscription ‘The Master of Heaven Qianlong, made by the House of Internal Affairs’ is a headline lot at Adam’s Asian sale next week.

Set of 18th-century export cups Photo by Eoin O'Hara

Its maker saw no reason why such an authoritarian ...