EMPEROR’S BOWL GOES TO AUCTION
Well, there are cheaper things to put your cornflakes in. A ceramic bowl estimated to bring in a record-breaking US$25.6 million will be auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong on April 3.
The H.M. Knight Gold-Pink Falangcai bowl hasn’t been on the market for more than 30 years.
The bowl comes from Falangcai, the line of ceramics decorated at the Imperial workshops within the Forbidden City during the Kangxi emperor’s reign. This piece was made for the emperor’s personal use.
“Falangcai was only produced in small quantities during a very short period in the later Kangxi period,” Sotheby’s Asia chairman Nicolas Chow told Architectural Digest, noting that the firing process was difficult to master.
The bowl comes from Henry M. Knight’s collection.