Ming-era chicken cup sells for record €26.3m

A rare Ming-era wine cup broke the world auction record for Chinese porcelain, selling in Hong Kong for HK$281.2m (€26.3m) to Shanghai tycoon Liu Yiqian, said Sotheby’s auction house.

The tiny white cup, decorated with a colour painting of a rooster and a hen tending to their chicks, was made during the reign of the Chenghua Emperor between 1465 and 1487.

The price sets a record for Chinese porcelain, according to Sotheby’s, beating the previous record held by a gourd-shaped vase from the Qianlong period, which sold in 2010 for HK$252.66m (€23.6m).