Boom in Oriental Antiques as Jade bowl sells for £260,000

Boom in Oriental Antiques as Jade bowl sells for £260,000

A traditional chinese 'Phoenix' marriage bowl has sold for £260,000 at auction, £10,000 above the estimated price at auction at Chorley's in Cheltenham, Gloscestershire.

The rare jade marriage bowl would have been brought by the bride as part of her dowry to marriage. The jade bowl, thought to be around 270 years old, is a type which was popular at the Imperial Qing court, the last imperial dynasty of China. It would have been brought with a quantity of gifts including gold and porcelain, with jade being one of the most important of these gifts. Its ring handles, suspended from phoenix masks are typical of the form and the jade is of a pale celadon colour prized by the carvers of that era. The phoenix birds on the handles of this bowl are emblematic of new beginnings or rebirth which is why it would have been given as a gift from the bride's family to her new husband.

The bowl was sold to a mystery Chinese collector and will now return to China.