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Subscribe nowEstimated at £300,000-500,000, the 2ft 2in (66cm) high vase in hexagonal mallet came down to a battle between two phone bidders.
Managing director of the Derbyshire auction house Charles Hanson described it as “our biggest find to date and in remarkably good condition”.
It was consigned by a West Midlands vendor after it had descended through the family. Hanson told ATG that it was acquired by the consignor’s great-aunt in Cornwall, who was a dealer and collector, probably in the 1920s or 1930s.
The decoration of the vase is in imitation of Ming 'heaped and piled' style but it also displays 'Baroque' elements pointing to the influence of European decorative arts in the art and architecture of The Summer Palace.
The bulbous body has cut branches of peaches alternating with flower and lingzhi stems and all facets are framed at the corners with European-style scrollwork spandrels.
A similar example sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in October 2011 for HK$17,460,000 (£1.45m) including premium.
Offered as lot number 806A of the sale, bidders and spectators remained until the end of the day to see if the vase would sell. Hanson took over at the rostrum from lot 783 just ahead of the sale's Chinese ceramics section, announcing: "We'll be calling many a bidder in China so hold tight and enjoy the memory."
The sum represented a house record for Hansons.
How the Chinese blue and white vase at Hansons was advertised in ATG.
