Chinese Porcelain: $35 Yard Sale Purchase Goes For $721,800 | Art & Object

Last year, a man bought a Chinese bowl for $35 at a yard sale in Connecticut. In March 2021, the very same bowl went for auction at Sotheby’s and was sold for $721,800. The prices that certain artifacts reach at an auction can leave us speechless. The exorbitant price ($450,312,500) paid for Salvator Mundi by Leonardo back in 2017 is only one of the most recent examples. While, for a painting by Leonardo, such a price is somehow understandable, the reasons behind the high prices for Chinese porcelains can appear more mysterious.