Wow! You never know what antique treasures you may find in your attic or at a garage sale.
According to the New York Post:
"A New York family scored a huge payday when this small bowl, which they bought at a garage sale for $3, turned out to be a 1,000-year old Chinese piece that sold for $2.2 million at Sotheby’s yesterday. The family bought the rare bowl at the secondhand sale in 2007, and kept it sitting on their mantle for years, the auction house said."
The article goes on to say:
"But yesterday, London art dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi blew away those figures when he plunked down $2.2 million for the museum-quality piece. He beat four other bidders for the Northern Song dynasty bowl — known as a Ding bowl — which dates back to the 10th or 11th century. There is only one other bowl like it in the world, and it is in the British Museum. A little less than 5 1/2 inches in diameter, the multimillion-dollar bowl could be mistaken for a decorative ashtray. Early-era Ding wares are known for their small utilitarian qualities, Sotheby’s said.
Author Rose Kerr believes the ornamental Ding bowls were made to mimic the more elaborate gold and silver wares that were common in palaces. The ancient piece is described as a Ding bowl because of the county Ding in the Hebei province where the kilns used to make the bowls were housed. The Ding bowl owned by the British Museum in London has been on display for more than 60 years, since it was bequeathed by famous collector Henry J. Oppenheim."
FEA Home has recently uncovered a collection of similar antique Chinese bowls to the recently auctioned Ding Bowl at our Yonkers, New York Facility.
If you would like to see our collection, please contact us at 914-423-2047 or info@feahome.com.