A small, plain bowl from the 12th century sold for a record HK$208 million - three times its pre-sale estimate - as Sotheby's five-day spring auction concluded yesterday in Hong Kong.
The 900-year-old Ru Guanyao (government ceramics kiln) lobed brush washer dating from the Northern Song dynasty is one of just five in private hands out of 79 in existence.
It went to an anonymous phone bidder who fended off seven others at the auction of Chinese ceramics and artworks at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
The pieces are among the most sought after Chinese ceramics.
The small, flower-shaped, 13.5cm-wide bowl from a Japanese collection went under the hammer at HK$185 million. Including the buyer's premium, the bidder will pay HK$208 million - a record for Song ceramics.
A buyer's premium, which is to cover 'administrative expenses', is a percentage of the sale value.
The previous record was set in Hong Kong at a Sotheby's auction four years ago when a vase was sold for HK$67.5 million.