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The price was more than 20 times the estimate
of 500,000 euros to 700,000 euros auctioneers Sotheby's had put
on the item. It was the highest price reached for a single item
sold by Sotheby's in France.
The vase spent some of its life stashed in an attic with other
items that formed part of an inheritance. A French family
retrieved the vase and brought it to the auctioneer.
"This person (the seller) took the train, then the metro and
walked on foot through the doors of Sotheby's and into my office
with the vase in a shoebox protected by newspaper," Sotheby's
Asian arts expert Olivier Valmier told Reuters.
"When she put the box on my desk and we opened it we were all
stunned by the beauty of the piece."
The 30 cm, bulb-shaped vase, painted in delicate shades of
green, blue, yellow and purple, was described as an
exceptionally well-preserved porcelain vessel made for an
emperor of the Qing dynasty.
It depicts deer, birds and other animals in a wood, and includes
gold embroidery around the neck. The vase bears a mark of the
Qianlong Emperor who ruled China from 1736 to 1796.A Sotheby's
spokeswoman said: "They knew it had some value but nothing like
that, nor that it was from the Qian dynasty."
The auction lasted some 20 minutes, a long time by usual
standards for such sales, with multiple bidders battling for the
prize.
The buyer was Asian but the firm did not wish to reveal the name
or nationality.
The 16.2 million euros ($19.11 million) sale price included 2
million euros in auction costs and commissions.
(Reporting by Manuel Auslass, Writing by Brian Love; Editing by
Luke Baker and Alison Williams)
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