Qing vase to fetch €22.5m

This 300-year-old Qing dynasty vase made of glass is set to shatter records at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on October 8 with an estimate of €22.5m.

Created inside the Forbidden City in Beijing it is a masterpiece of shape, design, execution and size and measures just 18.2cm. The value is inextricable from the difficulty of its production: to create a vessel which evokes a bottle wrapped in a cloth pouch tied with a ribbon, with a brilliantly enamelled design of phoenixes soaring amid clouds and peonies, would have required the co-operation of different palace workshops.