This Ming Vase set a world record for any Ming porcelain at auction in Hong Kong. (Click on image to enlarge).
THERE was a world auction record for Ming Porcelain at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong today. This outstanding blue and white Imperial Vase, Ming Dynasty, Yongle Period – just less than 15 inches high – sold for HK$168,660,000 / £14,032,792/ US$21,623,077 after a ten minute bidding battle on the telephone. It was won by Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, against a Sotheby’s Ceramics Specialist based in Beijing.
Chinese buyers from around the world competed for 32 important pieces from Sotheby’s sale of Part II of Imperial Chinese Porcelains from the Meiyintang Collection which brought HK$560 million /£46.6 million / US$71.8 million in just over an hour. Ming porcelain (1368-1644) has been less sought after in latter times than Qing (1644-1911) wares, though it is older. Ming can be less decorative than Qing, and has not quite matched the taste of new buyers from mainland China.
