Record $22m for Ming vase in HK
A blue-and-white Ming vase fetched nearly $22 million in Hong Kong on Wednesday, setting a new record at auction for porcelain from the ancient Chinese dynasty.
An unidentified bidder paid $21.7 million for the 15th century imperial vase at the sale by Sotheby’s auction house, more than double the lower pre-sale estimate of HK$80 million.
Thirty-two pieces in the sale went for a total of HK$560 million, again far above pre-auction estimates, it said.
Hong Kong has emerged as the world’s third-largest auction centre after New York and London, thanks in large part to China’s rapidly growing number of millionaires.
Mainland Chinese regularly snap up the top lots at auctions of art, jewellery and wine and Hong Kong has positioned itself as the gateway to China’s vast market.
In April, Sotheby’s said it sold a record HK$3.49 billion worth of Asian and Chinese art, fine wines, watches and jewels at an eight-day Hong Kong auction.
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Tom Cruise participates in a wedding dance-off
Hollywood star Tom Cruise got involved in a dance-off at a wedding in Palm Springs, California. The 48-year-old actor was a guest of technology billionaire Larry Ellison at the wedding of his son David and actress Sandy Modic in Palm Springs, California, and showcased his fancy footwork at the reception, reported New York Post.
Cruise, his wife Katie Holmes and their five-year-old daughter Suri had attended the ceremony, but they put their daughter to bed before hitting the dance floor.
This is not the first time the Mission Impossible star has got himself involved in a dancing showdown. At the MTV Movie Awards last year he reprised his role as Hollywood producer Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder and pulled out some of his character’s madcap trademark moves in a battle against Jennifer Lopez.
— PTI
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First printed depiction of Taj fetches £31,250
The first printed depiction of the majestic Taj Mahal has been sold for £31,250 at Bonham’s “India and Beyond: Travel and Photography” sale here.
The book sold on Tuesday, estimated at £30,000-35,000, included a volume of aquatint views of India by William Hodges who travelled through the country in the 1780s executing drawings on the spot.
In the depiction, the Taj appears in the background of the Agra Fort, suggesting that Hodges was more interested in the military installation than the building which emerged as a symbol to symbolise eternal love. Earlier in a similar sale, a copy of Emily Eden’s Portraits of the Princes and People of India was sold for £46,850. It was based on original drawings by Eden who lived in India from 1835–1842 when her brother, Lord Auckland, was the governor-general.
— PTI
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