£1 Imperial Chinese Charity Shop Find To Bring Over £50,000

Purchased for £1 from a Hertfordshire charity shop earlier this year, a Qianlong famille rose wall vase will carry an estimate of over £50,000 in the Autumn.

The lucky purchaser of the vessel – that is inscribed with an imperial poem – was unaware of the significance of his find and had been deluged with bids and enquiries after placing it for sale on eBay. He took the decision to withdraw it from the online auction site and take it to Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers for a fuller appraisal.

The 8in (19cm) high pear-shaped wall pocket with ruyi handles and a yellow ‘sgraffito’ ground is inscribed with a poem praising incense alongside a yuti mark and two iron-red seal marks reading Qianlong chen han ('the Qianlong Emperor's own mark') and Weijing weiyi (be precise, be undivided).

The wall vase now form’s part of Sworders' Asian Art auction on November 8 with an estimate of £50,000-80,000.

For more information regarding the vase and the upcoming auction please contact,

Yexue Li - yexueli@sworder.co.uk