Trade speculation surrounding the form and date of this finely executed famille rose ground ceramic masterpiece, did not dampen buyers' enthusiasm when it came under the hammer at auctioneers Catbecca.com (20% buyer's premium) in a 1400-lot Indiana single owner sale on March 11-13.
The 13in (33cm) high vessel was consigned from the personal estate of the jewellery dealer and Chinese collector Florence Ueltzen, whose Philadelphia mainline firm was called Fu-Ming-Fair.
Although this South Carolina auctioneer is based in Fort Mill, where they hold around 45 general auctions per year, the three-year-old firm agreed to host this specialist sale near the consignor's home in Indiana.
Catbecca.com director of research John Scherz, in charge of cataloguing the sale, was confident the vessel was an unusual vase form. Although it was catalogued as Qianlong, he revised his opinion believing it to be a Jiaqing copy dating to c.1810. "This was confirmed by around eight or nine Chinese dealers who came to view it," he explained.
Its quality and excellent condition attracted widespread interest from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. It sold at $220,000 (£122,220) to a Hong Kong buyer. Mr Scherz said the buyer was delighted with what he felt to be a Jiaqing vase with a potential market value around $2m.
