Detail: Sotheby's Paris Asian Art sale will present a wonderful selection of fine works of art from China, Tibet and Japan, most of them of French provenance. One of the sale highlights is a fine and rare bronze figure of the Bodhisattva Guanyin (€200,000-250,000), dating from the Yuan or early Ming Dynasty. The figure is a rare early example of Chinese Buddhist sculpture and depicts the bodhisattva in the position of royal ease, with its left leg pendant and the right leg drawn up. Other examples of this type also known as the Water and Moon Guanyin.

The sale also features a fine group of jade carvings formerly in the collection of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Burrard Reboul (1825-1886) which have been passed down through the family where they have remained until today. Among them is a wonderful pale celadon and russet jade figure of a dragon striding through clouds (€40,000-60,000), a rare 18th-century example of a dragon carved in the round. From the collection of the 19th-century French artist Alfred Forgeron (1842-1910) comes a rare small white-jade washer carved in form of a plum blossom resting on a carved and stained ivory stand (€15,000-25,000). This exquisite object is a true scholar's object, possibly made for the pleasure of the Qianlong emperor who was fond of miniature works of art which adorned his private quarters.

Also from the Qianlong period comes a rare blue and white porcelain moonflask (€100,000-200,000), decorated with a continuous design of scrolling lotus flowers borne on leafy stems, a fine example of 18th-century porcelain workmanship.