Rare 18th century Chinese vase sells for 3 million pounds

A rare 18th century Chinese vase that was used by its unwitting owners to hold bunches of flowers for a decade has fetched a whopping 3 million pounds at an auction here.
The green and yellow ceramic at Christie's, London raked in much higher than its estimated 200,000 pounds price.
The 16-inch vase, decorated with eight enamel bats flying around clouds and flowers, dates back to the Imperial kilns of the Yongzheng Emperor.
The unidentified owners inherited it from a relative who had bought it from a New York art dealer in 1961 for an undisclosed sum.
It sat displaying bunches of flowers for years until an auctioneer from Christie's spotted it while visiting the property to view other Chinese artifacts.

It was then auctioned in London where it was sold to an Asian art trader for a staggering 2.65 million pounds. After adding the buyers premium, the total amount reaches 3 million pounds, the 'Daily Express' reported.

"Chinese ceramics is a very strong market but it has gone up another notch in recent years. A vase from this period in this shape and colour scheme is almost unheard of," said Pedram Rasti, an expert in Chinese art at Christie's.
"On top of that, demand for quality Imperial ceramics is very, very high," Rasti said.
The worth of the vase was confirmed by a mark of Yongzheng on the base dating it back to a time between 1722 and 1735.

"Even back then the vase would have been a very important piece that would have featured in the house of an equally important Chinese figure," Rasti added.