Chinese bowl sells for astonishing £16,900 at Shrewsbury auction house
A Chinese bowl dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) has sold for an incredible £16,900 including premium at a Shrewsbury action house.
The bowl was estimated at £400-600 and sold at Halls Fine Art auction on Wednesday.
Bidding was entirely online between the UK and mainland China, starting with a multi-estimate £3,000 and finally reaching £13,000 before the hammer fell. The total price including premium was £16,900.
The bowl measures just under 10cm across and is decorated with a ‘hare’s fur’ glaze, dark brown with ochre speckling, which is highly prized by collectors.
Asian Art Specialist Alexander Clement consigned the bowl from a Shrewsbury vendor who has collected Chinese works of art for many years.
He commented: “It was one of several pieces we had consigned from this collector, many of which dated to the Song and Ming Dynasties, and were quite diverse in style. The bowl was one of four from the same period but stood out because of its splendid glaze.”
The technique, also known in Japan as Tenmoku, involved early cooling in the kiln to separate the glaze elements and produce interesting effects. Hare’s fur is so called as it resembles rabbit hair.
