Emperor Yongzheng Dragon Vase Could Fetch $2.3 Million at Auction
Bloomberg reports that a blue-and-white dragon vase from the 1700s bearing the mark of Emperor Yongzheng could fetch as much as $2.3 million in Hong Kong.
The blue-and-white dragon vase, bearing the mark of Emperor Yongzheng (reign: 1723-1735), is one of 1,600 paintings, gems and antiques that Christie's expects to sell for HK$750 million ($96 million) at its four-day auction starting on May 24. The item once belonged to Hong Kong antiques doyen Robert Chang.
The sale will test Chinese buyers' willingness to buy from Christie's after the company's Feb. 25 sale of bronzes, plundered by foreign troops in the 19th century, which sparked outrage in China. The government imposed controls on Christie's in mainland China after the Yves Saint Laurent collection's auction in Paris. Cai Mingchao, the Chinese dealer who placed the winning $40 million bid, refused to pay.
Hong Kong is Christie's third-biggest market after New York and London and its hub for the sale of Chinese antiquities, with revenue of more than HK$1 billion last year. Christie's had a record number of Chinese buyers at its New York and London auctions this month, a sign of their growing importance, Andrew Foster, Christie's Asia president, said in an e-mail.
They aren't expected to run into problems like they did with the Qing Bronzes, when the buyer backed out. You can see some of the other items up for sale at Christie's Imperial Sale, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art auction here.
