A rare Chinese bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty has just sold for close to $27 million. The bowl, which was auctioned of during a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong, was estimated to fetch around $10 million.
The Seattle Post Intelligencer 8 bidders fought over the 900-year-old Ruyao washer for about 15 minutes. The rare ceramic sold for 208 million Hong Kong dollars ($26.7 million).
Sotheby’s Asia deputy chairman Nicolas Chow said:
“The Ruyao Washer is among the most sophisticated achievements in Chinese ceramics. Its appearance on the market has created enormous excitement.”
Sotheby’s Asia deputy chairman Nicolas Chow added:
“The piece is possibly the greatest masterpiece of Song ceramic that we have ever offered in Hong Kong… It is a piece of Ruyao, which is probably the most fabled type of Chinese ceramic ever to have been created.”
The rare Chinese bowl was won by an anonymous bidder for a record breaking price. Sotheby’s said that the Ruyao Washer easily topped a 2008 for a Guan Mallet Vase from the same era.
The AFP reports that “Ru” ceramics are among the rarest in China. It is estimated that there are less than 80 pieces remaining in the world, most of which are in museums.