Two miniature Qing dynasty jars, bought from UK thrift store for just $25, sold for over $74,000 at auction

A pair of Qing Dynasty jars beat their $63,000 estimate at London auction house Roseberriesselling for $74,318, nearly 3,000 times the $25 the seller paid for them at a charity store.

“These pots are extremely well potted and painted with great skill and finesse,” the auction house’s Bill Forrest told Artnet News ahead of the sale. “Of course, charity shops can be forgiven for overlooking such niche items as these due to the volume and variety of donations they receive.”

The seller has agreed to return part of the proceeds of the sale to the store where the items were purchased.

A pair of Qing dynasty pots sold for $74,318. Photo: Courtesy Roseberys.

Decorated with blooming red and yellow chrysanthemum heads, as well as tendrils of lotus flowers, the 4.5-inch-tall jars were fired in the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Chrysanthemums have been a popular motif in Chinese art for centuries, associated with wealth and longevity. Vessels with the same motif appeared in major porcelain exhibitions in China and Japan.

On their bases, in underglaze blue, the works bear the mark of Emperor Qianlong, the fifth of the Qing dynasty, who reigned from 1735 to 1796, after which he abdicated, not to reign longer than his grandfather. .

The vases were created using the doucai technique, in which parts of the design are painted in underglaze blue before firing; the artists added the rest in glaze glazes of varying colors, then finally fired the jars at a lower temperature to set the full pattern. Possible translations of the term include “contrasting colors” or “dovetail colors”. The style originated in the imperial factories in Jingdezhen where these works were created.

May 16 sale, including Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian art, featured several other items that exceeded their estimates. Among them are a pair of Chinese zitan lantern stands, with a high estimate of around $6,000, which went for nearly $89,000; and a Qing dynasty dish with the same high estimate that fetched over $121,000.

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