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The small, blue-green item broke the previous
record, also set in a sale in Hong Kong, when a 500-year-old
imperial "chicken" cup from the Ming dynasty Chenghua period
sold for HK$281.2 million ($36.0 million) in 2014, Sotheby's
said.
The 13-cm (5-inch) bowl, used to wash brushes, was fired in the
famed Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) kilns in Ruzhou, and was
sold to an anonymous buyer after a 20-minute bidding battle.
Such "Ru guanyao" wares -- known for their intense blue-green
glaze and "ice-crackle" pattern -- are extremely rare because
the kiln in China's central Henan province had a brief
production run of only around two decades.
The bowl, from the Chang Foundation in Taiwan's Hongxi Museum,
is one of only four known pieces of Ru heirlooms in private
hands. Since 1940, no more than six Ru vessels have ever
appeared at auction, according to ceramics expert Regina Krahl.
"We've had in last 20 years a huge sort of influx of mainland
Chinese buyers. We're filling the room with new prices, new
interest and that's what's really driven the price today," said
Sotheby's Asia deputy chairman Nicolas Chow, who declined to
reveal the nationality of the buyer.
(Writing by Venus Wu; Editing by James Pomfret and Kim Coghill)
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