One of their many affluent converts had bequeathed this pair of Qianlong mark and period vases, one yellow ground, the other red, both measuring 101/2in (27cm) high and catalogued along with thousands of lots from the Panacea Society being sold by Wilson Peacock at their Newnham Street premises over five days at the end of July.
Estimated at £600-800, the vases were evidently Imperial quality, and sold to a London dealer acting on behalf of a Japanese client at £40,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium and VAT).
Pair of Qianlong mark and period vases
This pair of Chinese porcelain vases had been salvaged from a house owned by a religious cult. No, not the Falun Gong, but the Panacea Society, a ‘charity’ founded in Bedford after the First World War who believed that Christ would make his second coming to the town of the eponymous van.
