The surprising bid of $373,750 bought a lot estimated at $300 to $500 at an August auction in Maine. The lot included two bowls and four saucers, but it was the yellow bowl the bidders were after. Auction bidders sitting at the James Julia auction had learned the bowl was very similar to a bowl made about 1730 that was part of the collection in the Palace Museum in Beijing. The lot was one of many that was consigned by Dorothy-Lee Jones, who had founded a glass and ceramic museum in Sebago, Maine, in 1978. The museum later became the center of a controversy that ended with a bankrupt museum. The pieces in the lot had been described as from the late 19th or early 20th century. Other Chinese antiques assigned by Jones and by the great-great-granddaughter of the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi (reign 1861-1908) went for very high prices. James Julia told us that wealthy Chinese bidders are trying to “repatriate their heritage.” (See the press release).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of James D. Julia Auctioneers, Fairfield, Maine, www.jamesdjulia.com