It’s always advisable to declutter ones home on occasion. Partly, this is just to make you feel a little better and more comfortable in your own surroundings. Tidying up is often proclaimed to be good for the soul. In addition, however, you may just find that your home is hosting unexpected treasures.
That was certainly the case for one couple in West London, who learned that a matching pair of Chinese vases that had gathered dust on their mantle dated back to the Qianlong Emperor. Agreeing to send the vases to auction, the value was truly spectacular – the couple had been sitting on a slice of Chinese history for decades.
The couple called in an antiques expert for a valuation of their possessions, as they were planning a house move. Among the items valued were two Chinese vases, which were an inheritance gift obtained in the early 1950s. Ever since, the vases had sat atop a fireplace. They were deemed to be an aesthetically pleasing decoration, and nothing more.
Read morePair Of Qianlong Ruby Ground Sedan Vases Sell For £324,000
Tang sancai refers to the tri-coloured glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A. D.), a painted earthenware which appeared in the wake of celadon. It is called “tri-coloured ” because yellow, green and white were normally used, although some pieces are also in two or four colours. Developed on the basis of the green and brown glazed- pottery of the Han Dynasty, it represented a peak in the development of Chinese ceramics and was already well-known in the world in its time.