Tuesday, October 3, 2017

The Beautiful Porcelain from the Song Dynasty and Fun at the Auction House


This exquisite piece was made during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).  The care it must have received had to have been superlative since it's made with porcelain which doesn't take so kindly to history.  This type of Oriental art isn't seen much anywhere else but probably everyone has at least an impression of it.  My ol' Mother had lived in China for some while in her life and she had some pieces which were imitations but lovely in this way nevertheless.

Zen Yogi:  what's it worth?

That's where it gets unusual, Yogi, since another piece from the Song Dynasty was recently auctioned by Sotheby's so you know it was a lot.


The type of porcelain creation wasn't the same shape but it was of about the same size so that should give some idea.

A 1,000-year-old bowl from China’s Song dynasty sold at auction for $37.7m on Tuesday, breaking the record for Chinese porcelain, auction house Sotheby’s said.

The small piece – which dates from 960-1127 – broke the previous record of $36.05 million set in 2014 for a Ming dynasty wine cup which was sold to a Shanghai tycoon.

Bidding started at around $10.2m and the auction lasted for 20 minutes before the winning offer came from a phone bidder.

The Guardian:  1,000-year-old China Song dynasty bowl sells for record $37.7m)

Zen Yogi:  jeepers, Silas, I'm speechless

That number is a little daunting, isn't it.  The situation gets even more unusual when the buyers are usually collectors with a whole lot of money.

Zen Yogi:  I get an image of it on a pedestal in some master criminal's super secret retreat and everyone freezes if it moves in the tiniest way.  I haven't seen Mike Myers and his Doctor Evil but he might be a match.

The selling price of it really doesn't matter particularly.  It's a shocking amount of money but transactions of that stratospheric nature aren't in our world anyway.  The part which does exist here is the viewing, wherever we see them and regardless of their authenticity.  I remember some from when I was a kid and they're still special for some reason.

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