Picture: Sworders Auctioneers
A Chinese blue and white pot used as an everyday item has been sold for more than £162,000.
The 400-year-old pot was once used to hold an artist’s brushes.
It dates from the reign of the Chinese Kangxi emperor in the 17th century.
The pot – along with other items – was brought back to England in the 1850s by a British porcelain and silk trader.
The collection has been handed down through the family.
The paint brush pot made £125,000 at Sworders Auctioneers of Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex.
With extra fees, the anonymous buyer paid £162,500 for it – the estimate was a modest , making more £3,000.
Over the last ten years demand for Chinese items has soared as collectors scramble to “buy back” their heritage.
