Qianlong teapot sets record

A rare Chinese celadon-glaze pear shape teapot with a Qianlong mark has sold for a hammer of £800,000 at a Dorchester auction, setting a record for Asian Art Week.

The teapot sold at Duke’s as part of the auction house’s Asian Art sale including the Anthony du Boulay Collection.

It has baluster sides covered in a soft green-glaze, carved around the spout and handle with mask motifs. The rims of the pot have repeating bands of stiff leaf and key-fret, and its cover is decorated a peach and pip form. The peach is the symbol of long life in Chinese folklore.

Other highlights of the sale included:

A fine, carved boxwood figure of the ‘Queen Mother of the West’ (Xiwangmu) from the Jiaqing/Daoguang period, which sold for a hammer of £185,000

A 15th-century fine gilt-bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni from Tibet, seated in vajrasana on a double-lotus pedestal, which sold for £180,000.