Estimated at 2000 euros, this Chinese porcelain vase sold for... 9 million at auction

A seemingly banal vase was sold for the sum of 9 million euros at auction while the expert had estimated it at … 2000 euros.

Credit: Maison Osenat

Saturday, October 1, the house of auction Osenat has achieved a real feat. It was in Fontainebleau that the house sold a vase Chinese porcelain for 9 million euros.

It was a real battle between 20 to 30 bidders, mainly Chinese, to obtain the vase dated from the 20th century. The price of the object thus rose to 7.7 million euros (which reached more than 9 million by adding the costs) while it had been estimated at 2000 euros by an expert. This is the initial sum that the owner of the porcelain vase wanted to obtain.

The saleswoman, whose identity we do not know, and who resides in an overseas territory ' inherited the vase from her mother, who herself inherited it from her mother, a major Parisian collector in the last century “, specifies Cédric Laborde, the director of works of art of Osenat.

A porcelain vase that has aroused the interest of Chinese buyers

Credit: LightFieldStudios/ iStock

« It's a crazy story “, confided Jean-Pierre Osenat, the auctioneer of the house, who also explains that the vase was left in the apartment of the mother of the seller, in Saint-Briac-sur-mer. The saleswoman had the vase transported to Paris without ever having seen it.

It is a blue and white Tianqiuping-shaped vase, indicates the Osenat house, in porcelain . The Chinese vase is covered with polychrome enamels (a varnish) with figures of dragons and clouds represented and measures 54 centimeters high and 40 centimeters in diameter.

« From the moment we made the catalog public, we saw that there was a lot of movement: the Chinese came to see the vase, more and more of them. The expert said he continued to think he was not ancient “, adds Cédric Laborde. ' The Chinese are passionate about their history and are proud to reclaim their heritage. I think this vase is not meant to be hidden from view, but displayed in a museum “, he believes, specifying that the buyer of the vase is Chinese.

Such interest aroused for this vase raises the question of the period to which it dates. The 20th century for the expert would make it a most banal vase. But if the vase dates from the 18th century as some think (during the Qing dynasty), the vase has a rare value.