The vase, carrying an imperial Yongzheng mark (1722-35), had been rejected as an homage by experts from Beijing who had cherry-picked the best works from a London estate.
Accordingly it entered a Carmarthen fortnightly sale with an estimate of just £150-250 for the auction on November 5. There was a full 15 minutes of protracted bidding before it sold online against competition from the room.
It is part of a collection of Chinese porcelain and works of art sent for sale in Wales, the running total for the consignment is over £500,000 with the further valuable lots to come on November 18.
A watery celadon glaze with a textured bluish tone was among the many innovations of the Yongzheng period.
The buyer's premium was 20%.
