Jules Speelman: Celebrating the Milestone of 80

The idea of retirement is not in my language anyway. Retire for what? Here is one of the greatest dealers, not just in Chinese art, but Himalayan art, to Japanese, Chinese, and so it is always a great privilege to draw on his knowledge. He is totally and utterly focused. He's going from A to B and that's it. His art is everything. I'm fortunate that I've never had a moment of boredom in doing what I've been doing. It's always been a quest, which I've thoroughly enjoyed from so many aspects. So nothing stops. There are changes, but nothing stops. He's passionate, isn't he? It's something that's been drawn out of him. His father was the one who brought it out and has introduced it to him. And I think he's the sort of person, if he's going to do something, he has to do it properly. And he certainly does it properly. I worked with my father for 40 years. I obviously learnt a lot, but I also learnt from the fact that he was a cautious person and I'm not a cautious person. I knew that in order to succeed, I had to throw caution to the wind to a certain degree and just take chances. Go after what is quality, never mind what the market says at that point. We are now celebrating a sort of universal milestone of reaching the age of 80. I know in various cultures, religions, that's quite an important date. And it's actually quite an important date for me, the idea of 80. It's an awareness of one's life mortality and the necessity to actually get some sort of order in that life. One of my favourite pieces is the gilt bronze figure of the Shakyamuni Buddha as an aesthetic. And that is really a masterpiece of its time. It's the only other equivalent one known in the market to be an equivalent museum of art. When you look at it, at every element, the sculptural quality, it's both natural, it's also majestic. Portraits, bronzes, it's rather like photography today. It shows everything, warts and all. And therefore my appreciation of an object, I'm looking at how that person looked in those days. When you look at something who appears on the face of it less attractive, you look into something and you see something different, which is equally beautiful in a different way. I think the appreciation of monks in particular has fallen under the radar. The most important thing to remember is every single one is different, just as every single person is different. And that is a fascinating area. Yes, I think it's an area which has been underappreciated. Do I think that it's a growth area? Yes, I think it could well be. But from a fascination point of view, endless. Because our knowledge of some of these characters is not that great. And therefore one assumes with time, more education, more knowledge will help to increase the interest. It's very satisfying that a person of his calibre as a dealer, his calibre as a collector, is basically entrusted with doing the very best for his collection. It also comes with the responsibility, it comes with the dedication. But it's a labour of love, to leave no stone unturned. It's just something that we enjoy doing. Of course handling the fabulous objects and really studying them in detail, before they pass on from the many decades that they've been with jewels to the next collector. So it's wonderful to be a stop on the way. I'm very passionate about my art, without question. I'm passionate about people who are around me, whether it's my wife or my kids. I'm passionate about things. So when I look back at my life, I wouldn't say there's any area which I think I missed out there, didn't I? So that's quite a nice point to get to.