Vase in shoebox sells for $27.5m

It sat for decades in a shoebox, but when a vase went on sale in France it changed hands for NZ$27.5 million.

The 18th century Chinese vase had been valued at 500,000 to 700,000 euros by Sotheby's in Paris.

It had been discovered in an attic.

SOTHEBY'S

The 18th century Chinese vase had been valued at 500,000 to 700,000 euros by Sotheby's in Paris, but sold for $25m.

When the owner brought the box into Sotheby's and it was opened "we were all stunned by the beauty of the piece," said Sotheby's Asian arts expert, Olivier Valmier.

The owner "took the train, then the metro and walked on foot through the doors of Sotheby's and into my office with the vase in a shoebox protected by newspaper." 

Valmier called it a "major work of art."

The vase which bears a mark of the Qianlong Emperor, depicts animals in a wood.

It's not the only Chinese vase which has recently sold for millions.

A centuries-old vase that was once in storage at a US museum in Oklahoma sold at auction for NZ$24.3 million in Hong Kong earlier in the month.

The rare, porcelain vase was given to the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa in 1960. It was part of the museum's permanent collection, though it was kept in storage for more than a decade.

The vase was believed to have been commissioned in the early 1700s by Emperor Qianlong. It's known as a tianquiping, or celestial sphere vase, and had been estimated at NZ$12.8 million to NZ$15.7 million ahead of the auction.

Museum director Scott Stulen told the Tulsa World that proceeds from the sale would go into a restricted endowment that would fund the acquisition of more artwork.

- Stuff with AP