Chinese vase sells for record £43m
A woman who found a Chinese vase when clearing the house of her dead sister has sold it for a world record-breaking £43m.
The 18th-century piece of Qianlong-era porcelain was expected to fetch between £800,000 and £1.2m when it went under the hammer on Thursday night.
But the total price, including commission and VAT on the commission, was £53,105,000 after bids in the packed auction room went sky high.
Believed to have been acquired by an English family during the 1930s or earlier, auctioneer Bainbridges said how the Chinese Vase reached north-west London would never be known.
The woman, who has not been named but who had inherited the vase, had little idea of the fortune it would make her when she found it on a book shelf in the Pinner property.
The vase is understood to have been carried off by a private buyer from China for what is believed to be the highest sum for any Chinese artwork sold at auction.
I took a step back, I looked at it more closely, I couldn’t believe it could be real Luan Grocholski, Bainbridges
The eye-watering price it fetched shocked the both auctioneer and the owner.
Helen Porter of Bainbridges said: “They had no idea what they had. They were hopeful but they didn’t dare believe until the hammer went down.
“When it did, the sister had to go out of the room and have a breath of fresh air.”
The auction in Ruislip, north west London, attracted many Chinese bidders keen to get their hands on a piece of their imperial past.
Bainbridges described the 16in-high piece as one of the most important Chinese vases to go on sale this century.
Luan Grocholski of Bainbridges said he was shocked when he first saw it: “We were sorting the goods when we came across the vase which had just been unpacked.
“I saw this piece which was extraodinary by its quality and striking appearance. I took a step back, I looked at it more closely, I couldn’t believe it could be real.”
Air of expectation
The auction house was packed for the sale on Thursday night. An extra gallery was opened to deal with the public interest.
“They were all very, very expectant and there was a general sort of buzz”, said Luan Grocholski.
“There were so many enthusiastic, smiley faces. People just seemed to be very pleased to be near this vase. There was an appeal to this vase that seemed to infect everybody with warmth and enthusiasm”, he continued.
“We got to the point where in the end we had two buyers competing sitting in the front row next to each other.”
What to look for
The publicity surrounding the Chinese vase is sure to have antiques enthusiasts scouring their attics.
Channel 4 News asked the editor of Antiques Trade Gazette, Ivan Macquisten, about the key features to look for: “If you’ve got a piece of Chinese ceramic like this the first thing to do is to look at the bottom and see if there are any blue marks.
“That’ll tell you everything from the actual name of the artist who made it right through to who it was made for..so the records of that are very good indeed.”
The vase, decorated with a fish motif, was described as “a piece of exquisite beauty and a supreme example of the skill of the ceramicist and decorator”.
The item has a yellow painted trumpet neck and a double-walled construction, meaning an inner vase can be seen through the perforations of the main body.
Qianlong was the fourth emperor in the Qing dynasty and one of the longest-serving in Chinese history, reigning from 1735 to 1796.
The Chinese ceramics industry in the 18th century was known for the perfection of its porcelain and the evolution of new decorative techniques.