HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Talk about your garage sales findings. A small porcelain bowl purchased for $ 35 at a Connecticut settlement turned out to be a rare 15th century Chinese artifact, worth between $ 300,000 and $ 500,000, which is about to be auctioned off at Sotheby’s.
The white bowl adorned with cobalt blue paintings of flowers and other designs is about 16 centimeters in diameter. An antiques enthusiast found the piece and thought it might be something special to see a garage sale in the New Haven area last year, according to Sotheby’s.
The piece, one of seven known bowls in the world, will be auctioned in New York on March 17 as part of Sotheby’s Major Chinese Art Auction.
The buyer, who was not identified, paid the asking price of $ 35 and then emailed information and photos to Sotheby’s asking for an evaluation. Auction house experts in Chinese ceramics and art, Angela McAteer and Hang Yin, receive many of these emails every week, but this was the kind of email they dreamed of.
“It was immediately clear to both of us that we were looking at something really, really special,” said McAteer, senior vice president at Sotheby’s and head of China’s Department of Art Works. “The style of painting, the shape of the bowl and even the color of blue are very characteristic of that period of porcelain from the beginning of the 15th century.”
They confirmed it was 1400, when they were able to see it in person. There are no scientific tests, just trained eyes and expert hands. The bowl was very smooth to the touch, its enamel was silky and the color and designs are characteristic of the time.
“All the features and brands that identify it as a product from the beginning of the Ming period,” said McAteer.
McAteer and Yin determined that the bowl dates back to early 1400, during the reign of Emperor Yongle, the third ruler of the Ming Dynasty, and was made for the Yongle court. The Yongle court was known for opening a new style for porcelain ovens in the city of Jingdezhen, and the bowl is a quintessential Yongle product, according to Sotheby’s.
The bowl was made in the shape of a lotus bud or chicken heart. Inside it is decorated with a medallion on the bottom and a quadrifolium motif surrounded by flowers. The exterior includes four lotus flowers, peony, chrysanthemum and pomegranate flower. There are also intricate patterns at the top, both outside and inside.
McAteer said there are only six other bowls, and most of them are in museums. No other is in the United States. There are two at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, two at museums in London and one at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, according to Sotheby’s.
How the bowl ended up at a garage sale in Connecticut remains a mystery. McAteer said it is possible that it was passed down through generations of the same family, who did not know how unique it was.
“It is always surprising to think that this still happens, that these treasures can be discovered,” said McAteer. “It is always very exciting for us, experts, when something that we didn’t even know existed here appears out of nowhere.”