October 5, 2022
A Chinese vase originally expected to fetch 2,000 euros has far exceeded its original estimate at an auction in France this week, selling for 9 million euros. The decorative art sale took place at French auction house Osenat in Fontainebleau.
The anonymous seller inherited the 'Tianqiuping'-style Chinese vase, with a blue and white floral pattern typical of the period, from her mother's estate after the object was passed down through her French-based relatives.
The seller, who was not present at the sale, did not own the vase before it was shipped from Paris to the Brittany coast for auction this week.
The vase, which is 22 inches high and 16 inches wide, features images of dragons, flowers and clouds. Experts at the auction house believe the vase was probably made between the 18th and 20th centuries, but that has not been confirmed. If it was made in the earlier period, that would mean the antique is rarer than later specimens.
Specialists at the auction house initially estimated the vase at 1,500 to 2,000 euros because of its unknown date. During the live auction, a bidding war raised the hammer price to 7.7 million euro, nearly 4,000 times the original estimate. The final price was 9.12 million euros with premium to an anonymous Chinese buyer.
Tianqiuping vases have fetched high prices in the past. In 2018, a vase long stored at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa sold for $14 million at Christie's in Hong Kong. It had originally been valued at $9 million.