Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art specialists Marco Almeida and Chi Fan Tsang examine an ‘incredibly important piece of Chinese porcelain’ that sold for more than $20 million in Hong Kong.
‘The owner had always thought this was an 18th-century jar, a decorative object,’ explains Marco Almeida, a specialist in Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at Christie’s in London.
This magnificent and very rare large blue and white ‘Dragon’ jar was being used as an umbrella stand when Almeida got in touch with the owner, who agreed to send it to London to be inspected. ‘Once it arrived, we were absolutely speechless,’ the specialist recalls. ‘The more we studied it, the better it got.’ The team soon realised they were handling an ‘incredibly important piece of Chinese porcelain from the Ming Dynasty.’
(Video courtesy of Christie's)
Source: http://www.christies.com/features/Discovery-The-Ming-Dynasty-Dragon-jar-being-used-an-umbrella-stand-7581-3.aspx