Chinese plant pots sold at Blomqvist auction for NOK 700,000

– The Chinese are mad, exclaims general manager Knut Forsberg at the auction house Blomqvist to VG.

The Chinese plant pots were actually valued at between NOK 10,000 and 15,000, but then there was a bidding war.

The first bid came in at 12.29 and was a scant NOK 8,000.

Almost 10 hours later at 20:19, the last bid came in at NOK 700,000 – i.e. for 87 times more.

– They don’t like to lose. They bid to win, says Forsberg.

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– Pop the champagne

Blomqvist is in a jubilant mood:

– Tomorrow we will probably have to pop the champagne, says Knut Myrer to VG.

He is the auction house’s senior expert on Asian objects and art.

– When it comes to Chinese porcelain, nothing is ordinary anymore. We never know where the hare will jump, there are constant surprises.

In advance of the auction, people have called from China and Chinese have traveled to Stockholm and Copenhagen to look at the antiques. Myrer says that he and his colleagues have “worked like eagles”.

– We give up, but we keep calm until the money is in the account, he says.

Most of the buyers of Chinese porcelain are precisely Chinese – in China.

– It is often the case that when we get these fantasy prizes, we don’t know if they pay.

Myrer refers to the fact that even if someone has won a bidding war, they may regret it – or just put in the bid for fun.

– It is difficult to travel to China and get the money out of them.

A total of seven people were interested in the Chinese plant pots. When the price passed NOK 220,000 shortly after 8pm on Tuesday evening, there were only two of them left.

You may be wondering:

What exactly is a planter?

– If you imagine a stately home in China in the 18th century, or an imperial palace, if you like, they often had small dainty plants in beautiful pots, says expert Knut Myrer.

It could be reminiscent of bonsai trees, he says.

– It can look very stylish if you have a lovely pot or planter.

Where do the plant pots come from?

The dishes are from a collection acquired by a married couple who worked at the Norwegian embassy in Beijing between 1967 and 1969, the auction house states. They were part of the Asian auction which ends on Tuesday.

Is there anything special about these plant pots?

– Yes, says Myrer.

They have a so-called Yongzheng imperial mark on the underside, which may indicate that they were made in the 18th century. But Blomqvist has assessed the plant pots to the early 20th century.

They have Doucai decoration in cobalt blue underglaze and enamel colors in iron red and green. The decor depicts landscape motifs with cranes.

Have they stood the test of time?

Blomqvist writes that one has a glaze crack in one corner down to the bottom on the inside. The other has a drying crack at the bottom. The bottom has sunk somewhat during the burning. Stands somewhat unsteady. It is otherwise age-related wear and tear.

– No borders

Forsberg says that there is the greatest interest in objects that were initially intended for the Chinese market, and not the porcelain that has been made to be exported to the West.

– We are struggling with the fact that there are quite a few Chinese who bid, and they have no limits. It is something that every auction house in the world experiences. They don’t always make up, says Forsberg.

In this case, the top three bidders are Chinese, but all of them registered with the auction house last year. So Forsberg is optimistic that they will get paid.

Next Please

If the winner does not settle, it will be offered to the next highest bidder.

– But we have had sales of a similar order of magnitude before: Where the price has started at a few thousand kroner, and gone up to over 400,000 kroner, where the customer has settled for himself. I hope this is one of our good customers, he says.

In 2021, 14 different bidders wanted to buy a set of ten small Chinese bowls. The price rose from NOK 3,000 to NOK 400,000, Finansavisen wrote then.