A small porcelain bowl which was purchased from a yard sale at Rs 2,500 has turned out to be a rare, 15th-century Chinese artifact that is worth Rs 3.6 crore. The white bowl adorned with cobalt blue paintings of flowers and other designs was spotted by an antiques enthusiast at a yard sale in in the New Haven area of Connecticut. The bowl is about 6 inches (16cm) in diameter.
As per reports, the bowl is one of only seven such bowls known to exist in the world, and will be up for auction in New York on March 17 as part of Sotheby’s Auction of Important Chinese Art. The buyer, who is not being named, paid $35 (Rs 2,500) for the item and later emailed information and photos to Sotheby’s asking for an evaluation.
Soon, Angela McAteer and Hang Yin, the auction house’s experts on Chinese ceramics and art, responded saying that they realized right away that there was something remarkable about this item.
Sotheby’s senior vice president and head of its Chinese Works of Art Department, McAteer said, “It was immediately apparent to both of us that we were looking at something really very, very special. The style of painting, the shape of the bowl, even just the color of the blue is quite characteristic of that early, early 15th-century period of porcelain.”
Even though there were no scientific tests done, but the trained eyes and hands of specialists could identify the specialty of the bowl. It was very smooth to the touch, its glaze was silky and the color and designs are distinctive of the period. “All the characteristics and hallmarks are there that identify it as a product of the early Ming period,” McAteer said.
McAteer and Yin determined the bowl dates back to the early 1400s and said only six other such bowls are known to exist, and most of them are in museums. No others are in the United States. There are two at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, two at museums in London and one in the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, according to Sotheby’s.
However, how the bowl ended up at a Connecticut yard sale remains a mystery. McAteer said it’s possible it was passed down through generations of the same family who did not know how unique it was.
“It’s always quite astounding to think that it kind of still happens, that these treasures can be discovered,“ McAteer said. “It’s always really exciting for us as specialists when something we didn’t even know existed here appears seemingly out of nowhere.”