Chinese Bowl Brings in $27 Million at Auction
A coveted ancient Chinese ceramic bowl on Wednesday was sold at auction for almost $27 million.
The bowl is thought to be around 900 years old and one of only a few dozen left in the entire world.
"The piece is possibly the greatest masterpiece of Song ceramic that we have ever offered in Hong Kong," Sotheby's Asia deputy chairman Nicolas Chow said.
The bowl was offered at auction from a private Japanese collection and is "arguably the most desirable piece of Ru official ware remaining in private hands," according to Sotheby's.
The bowl is named after one of the five large kilns operating under the Song; "Ru" ceramics are the rarest in China with most being held in museums. It is estimated that only 79 complete pieces remain in the world.
"It is a piece of Ruyao, which is probably the most fabled type of Chinese ceramic ever to have been created," Chow told Associated Foreign Press.
The rare ceramic bowl far exceeded previous estimates which valued the bowl at around $10 million.
Sotheby's explained that the bowl which is from the Northern Song Dynasty broke a 2008 auction record on a Guan Mallet Vase from the same period. The former record price for the Guan Mallet Vase was almost 9 million
"The Ruyao Washer is among the most sophisticated achievements in Chinese ceramics. Its appearance on the market has created enormous excitement," Chow said.
With the recent surge in China's up and coming economy, Hong Kong is becoming one of the top auction locations in the entire world, sharing space with New York and London.
There were eight bidders who competed in a heated auction for nearly 15 minutes for the right to own the extremely rare flower-shaped bowl, which according to Chow drew bidders "mostly from Asia."
