Extraordinarily rare Chinese bowl sells for record $38m at auction
An extremely rare and ancient Chinese bowl has sold for a record price of almost $38 million (£28.4m) at auction.
The nearly 900-year-old porcelain bowl from China’s Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) was sold to an anonymous phone bidder at a Sotheby's sale in Hong Kong.
The tiny Ru-ware bowl, with a blue-green glaze and complex interlaced ‘ice crackle’ pattern, was once used to wash brushes.
Sotheby's Asia deputy chairman Nicolas Chow admitted they were surprised the item fetched such an astronomical price, but added there was huge interest in the “extraordinarily rare” Ru-ware item.
"We've had in last 20 years a huge sort of influx of mainland Chinese buyers,” he said following a 20-minute auction battle for the item.
“We're filling the room with new prices, new interest and that's what's really driven the price today.”
Sotheby's added Ru-ware has “achieved almost mythical status over the last 1,000 years … attributed to its short-lived production period, generally believed to not have exceeded twenty years”.
The item broke the previous record for Chinese ceramics, when a 500-year-old imperial "chicken" cup from the Ming dynasty Chenghua period sold for $36m in 2014, Sotheby's said.
