From The Collections of Henry A. "Hank" Lantelme (1917 Centurion) Hank was born in France on March 31, 1917. In his early years his parents moved to St Augustine Fla. Following Hank's birth, the family moved from France to St. Augustine then in 1920 they moved to New York where him and his siblings worked together supporting their family during the great depression. Hank enlisting in in the United States Navy in 1937, where he served for over 30 years. He was on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, a heavy cruiser in the Pacific operating near Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, His ship remained at sea hunting for the enemy. Hank rose to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer, also serving on the Battleships U.S.S. Missouri and U.S.S. Pennsylvania and participated in a great deal of action during World War II. The final years of his career Hank was assigned to a U.S. Naval Base in France. Following a short stay in Roanoke, Virginia, home of his wife Nell, the couple moved back to Saint Augustine where Hank worked for William Daniels as a dealer in antiques. During his tenure he developed considerable knowledge about the fine art from China. He searched for and collected various examples of the finest art available from estate sales, auctions as well as from other fine art collectors. The Collections of Henry A. "Hank" Lantelme presented and offered up to auctions from Lot-1 through Lot-34.
A carved wooden scholar?s screen supporting a russet jade bi in the shape of two archaic dragons. A Ba Gua is in the center of the bi. Reverse carved calligraphy is gilt painted on the wood. The bi is surrounded by four 5-toed dragons with Lingzhi clouds. Three lower bands of ruyi fall from the dragon band and the lowest are of key-fret and ruyi. The sides descend into Buddhist fan shapes with stylized bats and key-fret. The foot carving is of stylized meander. The screen rotates.