£21m bowl that is just 6in wide

A QING Dynasty bowl which is an inch wider than a shot put has sold for £21.5million.

The pink ceramic, pictured, has a diameter of just 6in and features four blue enamel panels each with different flowers – cinnamon rose, hibiscus, poppy with tuberose and gardenia with mallow.

The bowl is known as a work of ‘falangcai’ because it was painted by European Jesuits in Beijing’s Forbidden City for the Kangxi Emperor, who ruled China from 1661 to 1722.

After just five minutes’ bidding at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong yesterday, it sold to an anonymous buyer from the Greater China area – for £21.5million.

Nicolas Chow, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, said: ‘Although there are a few other recorded pieces of [falangcai], in the Palace Museum in Beijing and in Taipei, this is the absolute finest example known to exist.’

Hong Kong’s auction houses have seen a surge in demand for diamonds, handbags and ancient ceramics among Asian buyers in recent years. Last year a 1,000-year-old bowl from the Song Dynasty sold for £28.4million – a record for a Chinese ceramic.