£43m vase beat antiques valuation and other Chinese porcelain in 2010

A vase that sold at auction for £43 million not only beat its antiques valuation, but also became the most expensive piece of Chinese porcelain of its kind sold this year.

The Qianlong item - which had a pre-sale estimate of £1.2 million - had been discovered in a London house clearance before going under the hammer at Bainbridge's auction house, Luxist reports.

With commission added to it, the product - decorated with a fish motif - was worth more than £50 million.

At the time of the sale, Helen Porter, of the auctioneers, revealed the family had to go out of the room for a "breath of fresh air" due to the magnitude of the cost.

"They were hopeful but they didn't dare believe until the hammer went down," she added.

Earlier this month, a Chinese vase with an antiques valuation of £10,000 went up for auction for £4.8 million.

Posted by Lisa Marriott