18th-century Chinese vase sells for record $83M
This 18th-century Qianlong porcelain Chinese vase was sold for $83 million at a London aution on Thursday.
LONDON - It was just an old Chinese vase that had been tucked away unnoticed for years when the woman found it while clearing out her late sister's modest suburban London home.
It turned out to be much more.
When the intricately painted 18th century piece went on the block at Bainbridges, a small suburban auction house, it sold for a record $83 million Thursday, scooped up by a Chinese buyer.
"How do you anticipate the Chinese market?" asked auctioneer Peter Bainbridge. "It's totally on fire."
The sale price was more than 40 times the pre-sale estimate and a record for a Chinese work of art.
The sellers, who wished to remain anonymous, are the sister and nephew of a deceased elderly woman in the West London suburb of Pinner. The vase had been in the family at least since the 1930s, though they don't know how it was acquired.
Many Chinese artifacts surfaced in Britain in the 19th century, having been looted from Beijing's Summer Palace when it was sacked by British and French troops at the end of the Second Opium War in 1860.
Painted sky blue and imperial yellow and adorned with medallions depicting leaping goldfish, the 16-inch vase dates from the Qing dynasty, a time when Chinese porcelain-making was at its pinnacle. Made for the personal collection of Emperor Qianlong and bearing the imperial seal, experts said it was an exceptional piece.
Still, no one expected what happened on the block. Bainbridge said the atmosphere was "electric," and when the hammer came down on the winning bid he struck it so hard the gavel broke.
The vase, bought on behalf of an undisclosed buyer, beat the previous record for Chinese art. An 11th century scroll sold for almost $64 million in June.
- AP
'We had absolutely no idea what happened to her' What began as a desperate hunt for Shannan Gilbert in the marshes near Gilgo Beach became, in three astonishing days in December 2010, the unmasking of a possible serial killer. NewsdayTV's Doug Geed has more.
'We had absolutely no idea what happened to her' What began as a desperate hunt for Shannan Gilbert in the marshes near Gilgo Beach became, in three astonishing days in December 2010, the unmasking of a possible serial killer. NewsdayTV's Doug Geed has more.
