People’s Daily Online
A rare underglaze copper-red Ming Dynasty vase was sold at a price of 78.52 million HK dollars (10. 13 million U.S. dollars) on Tuesday in Hong Kong, setting a world auction record for any Ming porcelain.
“He’s bought the vase at the right price, making a world record, ” said Edward Dolman, chief executive officer of Christie’s International. He’s referring to the vase’s buyer Steve Wynn, chairman of the Wynn Resorts (Macao).
The pear-shaped vase decorated with a peony scroll is the only copper-red vase of the early Ming Dynasty, more than 600 years ago, still in perfect condition to be offered at auction in more than 15 years, said the Christie’s Hong Kong.
The vase was originally inherited by a Scottish couple who used it as a lamp and did not know its importance until they had seen a related example in a museum.
When Christie’s London sold the vase in 1984, it realized a price of 421,200 pound (about 615,000 U.S. dollars), then a record price for a Far Eastern work of art sold at Christie’s.

Posted: 05|30|06 at 10:09 am. Filed under: Auction News.