I bought a bowl for $ 35 and found it to be worth up to $ 500,000 | the Chronicle

A small bowl of Chinese porcelain bought for $ 35 at a garage sale in Connecticut, in the eastern United States, will be auctioned by Sotheby’s, which estimates its value between $ 300,000 and $ 500,000., was reported today.

The owner of the bowl, whose name is unknown, contacted the auction house to inquire about its value and experts have determined that it dates from the 15th century and was painted at the court of Yongle, third emperor of the Ming dynasty, according to AFP. agency.

Its “very distinctive” shape and floral pattern place it in a very rare category of bowl – only six other comparables have been identified in the world – he said. Angela McAteer, responsible for Chinese art at Sotheby’s in New York.

Of those six, five are in museums: two in Taipei, two in London, one in Tehran and the sixth “was last seen on the market in 2007,” he said.

The sale, scheduled for March 17, should appeal to both private collectors and artistic institutions, he added.

McAteer thinks we’ll never know how the centuries-old Chinese bowl got to a Connecticut garage sale.

Many Chinese works of art reached Western homes in the 19th century and then have been passed down from generation to generation, without any documentation that can be traced.