Following a successful visit in June, Chinese art specialists from Sotheby’s auction house will return to Hawaii for another search for Chinese antiquities.

Interest in Chinese antiquities has grown with China’s emergence as a financial giant. A recent week of Asian-art auctions at Sotheby’s New York brought in $55 million, and “Sotheby’s Art Sweep — An Invitation to Consign Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art and Paintings” is an opportunity to participate. People are invited to bring in Chinese artwork for a free appraisal and consideration for auction consignment. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at LIST Sotheby’s International Realty, 677 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 111.

Last year’s visit was rewarded with the discovery of paintings by Liu Dan, an artist who lived in Hawaii in the 1980s before moving to New York.

“We did a solo exhibition for him this March in New York, and many were astounded and delighted to see the vast range of his works, spanning three decades, from his stays in China, Hawaii and New York, from the 1970s to the early 2000s,” said Mee-Seen Loong, fine-art consultant for Sotheby’s.

In light of the finds, Sotheby’s Chinese painting expert Xian Fang will be in town, as well as ceramics specialist Angela McAteer.

The condition of a painting is a factor in determining its value. “The salt air may not be the best for ink paintings, but if you love art and want to look at the art you own, then you take measures to protect, investing in special glass, frames, air conditioning, dehumidifiers and shades,” said Loong, who’s particularly interested in finding works by Tseng Yuhe (Bette Ecke).

Now living in China, Tseng lived in Hawaii for decades and worked at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which is now the Honolulu Museum of Art. Her paintings have proved popular at auctions in Hong Kong.

Other treasures found in Hawaii previously included a set of about 250 Chinese archer’s rings, including rustic styles and fine pieces carved from white jade, jadeite and agate.

“The collector, Peter Morse, was a distinguished academic and collected from various established dealers on the mainland as well as auction houses, and spent decades collecting and researching them,” Loong said.

Morse, who died in 1993, had served as a curator at the Smithsonian Institution and as a research associate at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

His scholarly works include catalogs of the prints of John Sloan and Jean Charlot, and writings on Honore Daumier, Anthonie Waterloo and Odilon Redon. His primary area of expertise was ukiyo-e, specifically the woodblock prints of Hokusai. His final book was on Hokusai’s “One Hundred Poets” series.