The Collection of E&J Frankel, Ltd.

NEW YORK, NY -- Doyle is pleased to present over 140 lots of Chinese and other Asian works of art from the collection of the venerable New York dealers E&J Frankel, Ltd. For over forty years, Asian art collectors worldwide, and especially in their native New York, knew Edith and Joel Frankel as fair and friendly purveyors of rare artifacts and fine works of art.

January 15, 1967 is remembered as the date of the first NFL Super Bowl, but it also marks the happy occasion of Edith and Joel Frankel’s wedding. Edith was a biology teacher at New York City’s prestigious Erasmus Hall High School in those early years while Joel was engaged in business with his father. A mutual love of antiques and enthusiasts’ penchant for weekend treasure hunting sparked the Frankels’ entrée into the antiques trade. In the earliest years, they kept an eclectic inventory that featured as many European bronzes as Asian artifacts. Soon, though, the Frankels found a niche in dealing Chinese and Japanese art, which they were able to source in the greater New York area and greatly enjoyed researching for eventual sale. Their presence as knowledgeable Asian art specialty dealers was quickly established and their book of repeat clients and collectors grew quickly.

The first E&J Frankel, Ltd. shop was located at 25 East 77th Street in what was then the Hyde Park Hotel. Later, after a brief stay at a store at 1020 Madison Avenue, the Frankels came to occupy their corner location at 1040 Madison Avenue, the familiar location many New York collectors still associate with their firm. Edith and Joel were not content to only meet clients in their showroom, however. They enjoyed meeting clients in other markets and became regular vendors at major antique shows and fairs throughout the Eastern United States including the Philadelphia Antique Show, the Boston Antique Show, The Washington D.C. Antique Fair, The Asian Antiques Fair in New York, as well as at the International Ceramics Fair and other shows in London. Joel served as President of the Art and Antique Dealers League of America, a body for which he and Edith also served on the board. Despite their busy schedule as dealers, Edith took time to teach continuing education courses in Asian Art at the New School for Social Research in New York where she incorporated hands-on learning with objects from her own collection and inventory. The catalogues Edith and Joel Frankel produced are still treasured today for the quality of their illustrations and the depth of information shared through the couple’s careful research. Overseas and especially in the Hong Kong market, the Frankels were known to thousands who saw their regular advertisements in Orientations and Arts of Asia magazines.

Asian Works of Art: Part I & Part II

Featured in Asian Works of Art: Part I & Part II is Property from the E&J Frankel, Ltd. Collection.

Auction Part I: Wednesday, March 18 at 10am
Auction Part II: Thursday, March 19 at 10am
Exhibition March 14 - 17

View the Collection