A bowl of floral porcelain, purchased for $ 35 at a sale in Connecticut last year, has just been sold for more than $ 700,000 at a Sotheby’s auction.
Only after having the bowl evaluated by Sotheby’s experts did the yard salesman discover that he had casually purchased a rare 15th century Chinese bowl. There are only six other bowls like this known worldwide, Live Science reported earlier.
Experts estimate that the bowl, which is shaped like a lotus bud and painted with cobalt blue floral patterns, is worth between $ 300,000 and $ 500,000. But on Wednesday (March 17), after a battle between four bidders at Sotheby’s major Chinese art auction in New York, the bowl was sold for $ 721,800, more than 20,000 times the asking price at the garage sale.
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The bowl dates from the reign of the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, known as Emperor Yongle, who ruled from 1403 to 1424. The Yongle court, for which the bowl was made, brought a new style of porcelain to China, according to the previous Live Science report.
It was “an immediately recognizable style, never surpassed, and defining the craft even in the 18th century”, according to Sotheby’s list for the bowl.
“With more than five centuries of history, the bowl has an incredible history,” from Yongle’s court to present-day Connecticut and the sales hall on Sotheby’s York Avenue, said Angela McAteer, head of China’s Department of Art in New York . in a statement. “Upon seeing the bowl for the first time, our team immediately recognized the quality of this undisputed jewel, and it is a reminder that precious works of art remain hidden in plain sight, just waiting to be found.”
Originally published on Live Science.