LONDON, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- An 18th-century Chinese vase found in a London house after its owners' death was sold for a record price by a "very typical local auction house" Thursday.
The buyer agreed to pay $83 million, with $69 million going to the owners and the rest to Bainbridge's, the auction house, the Daily Mail reported. That is believed to set a new record for a single Chinese work of art.
The price is also a record for the auctioneer, far exceeding the $161,000 paid for a piece of Ming dynasty enamel at Bainbridge's two years ago.
A brother and sister had employed Bainbridge's, an auctioneer based in western London, to clear the house in Pinner, a neighborhood in London's northern suburbs, after their parents' death. While the auction house realized the vase was exceptional, its experts estimated it would fetch between $1.3 million and $1.9 million.
"It came from an ordinary house clearance," said Helen Porter, a Bainbridge's spokeswoman. "We're just a very typical local auction house so, as you can imagine, it was something of a surprise".
Porter said the vase was made about 1740, almost certainly in the imperial kilns for the emperor's palace. An outer vase standing 16 inches tall carries pictures of fish and an inner one is visible through holes in an elaborate design.
UPI
