Nicolas Chow, Deputy Chairman for Sotheby's Asia, holds a Ru Guanyao brush washer bowl from China's Song Dynasty during a press conference after its record breaking sale for US$37.7 million at the Sotheby's Chinese Works of Art Autumn Sales in Hong Kong on Oct 3, 2017. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)
HONG KONG - A new world auction record for Chinese ceramics was set when a rare Ru guanyao brush washer from Northern Song Dynasty sold for HK$294.3 million (about US$37.7 million) after a 20 minute bidding battle at Sotheby's in Hong Kong here Tuesday.
Ru guanyao, the court ware of the late Northern Song, was commissioned by the imperial court and is the most revered of the Five Great Kilns.
Visitors walk past a backlit photo of a Ru Guanyao brush washer bowl from China's Song Dynasty before its record breaking sale at the Sotheby's Chinese Works of Art Autumn Sales in Hong Kong on Oct 3, 2017. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)
With its glowing, intense blue-green glaze and the classic, excellently proportioned shape, the brush washer, formerly in the collection of the Chang Foundation in the Hongxi Museum, Taipei, is a pre-eminent example of Ru guanyao and incarnates to perfection the ware's revered qualities, Sotheby's in Hong Kong said.
The previous auction record for Chinese ceramics was set by Sotheby's in Hong Kong in April 2014 when the Meiyintang Chenghua Chicken Cup' sold for 281.2 million HK dollars.
Sotheby's Hong Kong's autumn sale for 2017 started from Sept 29 to Oct 3, presenting more than 3,000 items, with overall estimated price to reach 2.1 billion HK dollars.
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