The 6in (15cm) dish, with buildings and landscape decoration, sold to a bidder via LiveAuctioneers way above its guide of $100-200.
It was offered at Oakridge Auction Gallery (23% buyer’s premium) in Ashburn, Virginia, on January 12 without reserve as part of the estate of a San Diego collector who had bought in the 1970s-80s.
The mark to the Chinese bleu de Hue porcelain dish, $26,000 (£20,500) at Oakridge Auction Gallery.
Increased interest
Vietnamese buyers have sent the best works of art from the tumultuous Le-Trinh (1533-1789), Tay Son (1778-1802) and Nguyen (1802-1945) periods to uncharted territory in recent years.
A particular area of collecting focus is the bleu de Hue porcelain that was made in China to Vietnamese designs from the 17th to the early 20th century. Often these pieces (named after Hue, the Nguyen capital and site of the Forbidden Purple City) include the bespoke marks of royal family members and court officials.
An influential exhibition titled Signed porcelains from the Le-Trinh and Nguyen Dynasties was held at the Museum of Royal Antiques of Hue in 2018.
This lobed octagonal dish has a six-character mark to the underside and the protective silver rims of the type that became popular on Vietnamese porcelain in the late 19th century.
