Meet the Specialist

What do you do at Bonhams?

I am Vice President, US Head of Asian Art and Global Head of Business Strategy for Chinese Paintings. We are currently consigning for upcoming Spring 2022 auctions across New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong salerooms. In particular, we are seeking fine Chinese ceramics and Imperial porcelains, fine jades and metalwork, archaic bronzes and fine Chinese classical and modern Chinese paintings.

Where are you from? And what inspired you to go into the auction world? 

I grew up in the Midwest, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My interest in Asia was initially sparked by my uncle, the US naval attaché in Taiwan and when I was 12, I went to the Freer Gallery in the Smithsonian and fell in love with Chinese painting. When I was 20 I lived with a family in Taiwan, studied the language and volunteered at the National Palace Museum. After that, I was hooked!

What was your first job? 

I had commenced my program for the Ph.D at Berkeley in Chinese history and after passing my exams spent two years in Japan on a fellowship at the Stanford Center and a research center in Tokyo. I returned intending to finish my dissertation, but out of the blue got an offer from Butterfields, (which was acquired by Bonhams in 2001), to run the Asian department in San Francisco. My thesis adviser told me to give it a go for a year and more than 30 years later I’m still here.

 Name one of your triumphs:

I’d have to say the Carlisle dish was one of my great discoveries. I still remember the excitement I felt when a colleague returned from a valuation with a set of photographs of a large porcelain dish in which the family had served cracked crab. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was an extremely rare 14th century Ming dish which we went to sell for a world record price of over $5,700,000 in 2004.

What has changed in the business since you first started? 

The explosion of interest from Mainland China and the shift of economic power to that region, the emergence of the internet as a major information hub and business platform, the rise of virtual on-line sales, and the availability of information at one’s fingertips. The excitement and engagement never stop!

What is your strength as a specialist? 

Years of experience in looking at Asian art. A renowned dealer in Chinese art once gave me some good advice: to go to as many international auctions as possible. To attend the previews, handle the pieces, ask questions – because it’s the only way that you can develop your own eye. I followed that advice.

Why is now a good time to sell?

The market is extremely buoyant, with buyers hungry for fresh to the market works of art. We are proud to offer clients our expertise, broad market experience, and exceptional personal service honed over decades of involvement in the industry. If you are interested in an auction estimate or consigning to a future sale, we invite you to submit online or email us directly.

Do you have a hidden talent? 

Long-distance running. I discovered my love for it when I moved to California. I wasn’t athletic as a child but the beauty of the Northern California hills captivated me and I found that I had a great need to be up there and moving quickly through them. I have run several marathons and still go out for long stretches.

Which work of art has changed your life? 

Wu Chen’s (1271-1368) Fisherman scroll (ca.1350) and Shen Zhou’s (1427-1509) Spring Gathering were on view when I visited the Freer Gallery as a child. I bought postcards of them in the museum bookshop and still have them. These two paintings came back into my life in a Freshman seminar at Northwestern University focusing on concepts of space in art. It went from the Book of Kells to Salvador Dali, ending up in Chinese landscape painting. I jumped as these two and other masterpieces appeared on the screen. This class and these artists were hugely influential on my decision to go into Chinese art.

Dessa Goddard is Vice President, US Head of Asian Art and Global Head of Business Strategy for Chinese Paintings based in San Francisco. She can be reached on Dessa.Goddard@bonhams.com