Northern Song Dynasty Ru guanyao brush washer sells for 37.7 mln USD, breaks world auction record for Chinese ceramics

A staff member shows the rare Ru guanyao brush washer from Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) during Sotheby's Hong Kong's autumn sale for 2017, in south China's Hong Kong, Oct. 3, 2017. A new world auction record for Chinese Ceramics was set when a rare Ru guanyao brush washer from Northern Song Dynasty sold for 294.3 million HK dollars (about 37.7 mln U.S. dollars) after a 20 minute bidding battle at Sotheby's in Hong Kong here Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

HONG KONG, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- A new world auction record for Chinese Ceramics was set when a rare Ru guanyao brush washer from Northern Song Dynasty sold for 294.3 million HK dollars (about 37.7 mln U.S. dollars) after a 20 minute bidding battle at Sotheby's in Hong Kong here Tuesday.

Ru guanyao, the court ware of the late Northern Song, was commissioned by the imperial court and is the most revered of the Five Great Kilns.

With its glowing, intense blue-green glaze and the classic, excellently proportioned shape, the brush washer, formerly in the collection of the Chang Foundation in the Hongxi Museum, Taipei, is a pre-eminent example of Ru guanyao and incarnates to perfection the ware's revered qualities, Sotheby's in Hong Kong said.

The previous auction record for Chinese ceramics was set by Sotheby's in Hong Kong in April 2014 when the Meiyintang Chenghua Chicken Cup' sold for 281.2 million HK dollars.

Sotheby's Hong Kong's autumn sale for 2017 started from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3, presenting more than 3,000 items, with overall estimated price to reach 2.1 billion HK dollars.