Giuseppe Eskenazi (born 1939, in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
) has been described as the world’s most important dealer in Chinese works of art.
His company,
Eskenazi, has sold to more than eighty of the world’s major museums, as well as numerous private collectors.
Early life and career
He spent his youth in Italy, where his great uncle had started a family business in Milan, an art gallery, in 1923.
He opened a London office with his late father in 1960, originally buying for the family's antiques business in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
Eskenazi was studying medicine, but after the death of his father, decided to instead go into the antiques business and keep the family company going.
The family was granted British citizenship in 1963 in Constantinople.
He took over the business in his twenties. In 1971, he moved the gallery on Piccadilly to the first floor of the building, where he would showcase a single piece in a display.
In 1972 he opened a gallery at Foxglove House,
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...
, with an inaugural exhibition of Early Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art.
In 1993 he opened a purpose built 6-floor gallery on Clifford Street in
Mayfair, London
Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...
and also formed part of the steering committee that established Asian Art in London,
later acting as Chairman for the event in 2002
and 2003. Between 1993 and 2007 he served on the Asia House Executive Committee and between 1998 and 2002 he was on the Council for the Oriental Ceramic Society. He was a Trustee of the Asia House Trust (London), 2000-2007, an advisor to the board of Bard Graduate Center in New York, 2000 to 2015, and an advisor to the Royal Academy of Art for the exhibitions 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection (1998) and Return of the Buddha, The Qingzhou Discoveries (2002).
In 2006 he was awarded appointed a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur for services to the arts, and in particular for supplying remarkable works of art to the great museums of the world.
In 2012, he published ''A Dealer’s Hand: The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi''. It was published in Chinese in 2015 and a second Chinese edition was released in 2017. He speaks six languages.
Notable sales
He specializes in Chinese art, with a gallery off
Bond Street
Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...
in London.
In 1984, the ''New York Times'' reported that he had recently sold two
netsuke
A is a miniature sculpture, originating in 17th century Japan. Initially a simply-carved button fastener on the cords of an box, later developed into ornately sculpted objects of craftsmanship.
History
Traditionally, Japanese clothing – ...
, including a horse by Masanoa of
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
to a collector for a total of $400,000.
In 2012, he sold £140 million of Impressionist and early modern paintings in New York in one night.
In 2013, he purchased a rare Chinese bowl that had garnered attention in the press for around $2.2 million at auction in New York. The bowl was
Northern Song Dynasty
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
pottery.
Personal life
He and his wife, Laura, are residents of London. His son, Daniel, runs the gallery as of 2022, with Eskenazi still frequenting the dealership.
See also
*
List of art dealers
This is an incomplete list of significant art dealers:
* Guillam Forchondt the Elder (1608–1678): A 17th-century Flemish Baroque painter and art dealer based in Antwerp. He established an important art dealing business with international conn ...
References
External links
www.eskenazi.co.uk/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eskenazi, Giuseppe
British art dealers
1939 births
20th-century Sephardi Jews
Turkish Sephardi Jews
Businesspeople from Istanbul
Living people
Turkish emigrants to the United Kingdom