Chinese bowl auctions for millions in Hong Kong
Chinese-crafted ceramics (often known as famille rose) from the 18th century are unique.
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The backstory: Chinese-crafted ceramics (often known as famille rose) from the 18th century are unique. These antique pieces often go for millions at auction. They can be classified under a few different terms depending on their style: fencai (pale colors), ruancai (soft colors), yangcai (foreign colors) and falangcai (enamel colors).
More recently: Back in 2021, a Chinese imperial yangcai phoenix vase was auctioned off in Beijing for over US$41 million, making it the most valuable piece of ceramic ever sold. In 2006, a really small falangcai bowl, only a little over 11 centimeters across, was in the auction market. Back then, collector Alice Cheng bought it for the then-record US$19.3 million.
The development: That same bowl collected by Cheng was just auctioned off in Hong Kong for over US$25 million on Saturday. Its nature-inspired design of birds and flowers also includes part of a poem believed to have been commissioned by Yongzheng's Ming dynasty predecessor, the Wanli Emperor. The bowl has the mark of the Qianlong emperor. It's really special because the porcelain was painted in the imperial workshops of the Forbidden City in Beijing, making it a super rare piece from the Qing dynasty. The bowl initially had a twin, but its brother is now on loan at the British Museum in London.
Key comments:
"[This piece is] one of the world's greatest imperial porcelain in private hands," said Sotheby's Hong Kong.
"Pieces painted with such sparse and refined nature motifs as seen here, 'wrapped' around the vessel like an unrolled handscroll, were done in Beijing for only a very short period," said ceramics expert Regina Krahl.
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