Old Vase Found In An Attic Is Sold For Almost £500,000
A homeowner who found an old vase in his attic has sold the piece at auction for almost £500,000.
The man who found the vase, who has not been named, had no idea of the Chinese antique’s value until he took it to an auction house.
But the family heirloom, which had been gathering dust in the attic for decades, has been bought for almost half a million pounds.
The antique is a puce-enamelled blue and white dragon bianhu moonflask from the Imperial Court during the Qianlong period and dates from the 1700s.
Before it was sold, the flask was taken on a tour of Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Singapore because of its importance.
It was then sold to a buyer in Hong Kong for £488,000.
The vase was first valued by Duncan Chilcott of Chilcotts Auctioneers in Honiton, Devon.
He said: “The vase looked like something special - the decoration was enamel paint using fine brush work, which indicated to me the highest quality, skilled painting only seen in grand Chinese society.
"We undertook exhaustive research into the artefact and identified its age and importance. However, because of its likely value, we wanted a second opinion.
"As an auctioneer I never tire of the feeling I get when I realise someone’s brought in something rather special.
"The moonflask is the highest value item sourced in our sale room to date.”
Mr Chilcott was put in touch with Asaph Hyman, head of Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art at Bonhams auction house.
The vase had previously been owned by a colonel who served in Her Majesty’s Royal Army Medical Corps in China in the early 1900s.
He took the item back to the UK, where it was later stored away in an attic.
(Picture: SWNS)
