LONDON, ENGLAND.-Sotheby’s Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale this morning exceeded its pre-sale high estimate by more than £1.2 million and brought a total of £8,427,600 – the highest total ever achieved for various owner sale of Chinese Ceramics at Sotheby’s London. The highest price paid in today’s sale was for an extremely rare and important relief-carved blue and white ‘Dragon’ jar, Guan, Yuan dynasty, which was brought by the dealer Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art for the sum of £3,144,000. The cover lot – a large and important ‘Qingbai’ figure of Guanyin, which took first prize for a work of art in the prestigious Asian Art in London Competition – made £1,912,000, when it was purchased by London dealer Eskenazi Ltd.

Commenting on the sale, Alastair Gibson, Head of Sotheby’s Chinese department, said: “We are delighted with the results of today’s sale. It attracted both the trade and private collectors from every continent, and fifty percent of the top lots have found homes in Western collections, demonstrating the international interest in and buoyant market for Chinese art. There was competitive bidding both on the telephones and in a packed saleroom across the board. We were particularly pleased with the result of the ‘Dragon’ jar.”