Ivory rat netsuke from circa 1740-1760, for sale at Sydney L. Moss gallery for about £80,000.

Asian art is on display and for sale at the 11th annual Asian Art in London, which began Thursday and runs until Nov. 12Ivory rat netsuke from circa 1740-1760, for sale at Sydney L. Moss gallery for about £80,000.

Chinese and Japanese art dealer Sydney L. Moss will inaugurate new galleries in Queen Street with "Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On," 80 netsuke from the collection of Swiss businessman Willi G. Bosshard. Netsuke are miniature sculptures of animals, sea creatures or mythical figures that Japanese men used to fasten a pouch to their kimono sash. Collected during 40 years of Mr. Bosshard's business travels for Nestlé, the fascinating little objects are made from ivory, wood or silver. An enormously alive, ivory rat with bulging eyes hunched over a chili pod from circa 1740-1760 costs in the region of £80,000.

Virginia Sykes-Wright, longtime director of Asian Arts in London, says she has no illusions about the overall art market in the present economic climate. But she says "the quality Chinese antique market still appears to be spot on, Japanese antiques are undervalued and Indian and Islamic are doing quite well."

Sam Fogg of Clifford Street includes in his exhibition, "The Art of Enlightenment: Buddhist Manuscripts from the Himalayas, China, Japan and South-East Asia," a very rare 218-page illuminated Indian manuscript from around 1191 illustrated with miniature divinities (price around £300,000). Mr. Fogg says the existence of this document was previously unknown.

Clifford Street's Eskenazi gallery is always worth a visit. The gallery is showing Chinese ceramics and stone sculpture, including a pair of glazed earthenware shoes from the 6th-7th centuries and a sandstone panel depicting musicians from the 9th-10th century. Eskenazi says prices in the show range from £15,000 to £150,000, with a glazed earthenware jar with mysterious faces from 550-577 in the six-figures.

Combining the old with the new is an exhibition of photographs by Hong Kong contemporary photo-artist Caroline Chiu at Rossi & Rossi of Clifford Street. Titled "Gods and Monsters," the show presents 20 unique Polaroid images of antique Himalayan sculpture. A fearsome image of the Buddhist divinity Acala brandishing a sword is priced at $8,000.

Fine jade is very much in demand. At Bonhams auction on Nov. 6 will be a rare 17th-century white jade scepter from the Imperial Chinese Court estimated at £200,000-£300,000. The scepter, featuring peony blossoms and a dragon, symbolizes longevity.

Rare and archaic jades on Nov. 4 at Christie's will include a dramatic white jade 18th-century wine pot with a spout in the shape of a phoenix head and a dragon-head handle (estimate: £200,000-£300,000), and a princely shield-shaped yellow jade belt hook from 206 B.C.-8 A.D. (estimate: £100,000-£150,000).

A top lot at Sotheby's Chinese works of art sale on Nov. 5 will be one of the largest recorded Buddhist gilt bronzes from the Xuande period (1426-1435) of the Ming dynasty that ruled China from the 14th-17th century (estimate: in excess of £2.5 million).