Tennants Auctioneers’ Asian Art Sale delivered a remarkable result on Friday when a pair of seemingly modest Chinese porcelain saucers leapt from a £100–£200 estimate to an astonishing £55,000 hammer price, becoming the highest-selling lot of the day.
Catalogued as Lot 65, the pieces were described as “A Pair of Chinese Porcelain Yellow-Ground Saucers, Qianlong reign marks but not of the period”. Each of ogee form and bearing six-character Qianlong marks in underglaze blue, the saucers measured 11.5cm in diameter.
Intense bidding—both online and in the saleroom—quickly pushed the price into the tens of thousands. Specialists and dealers noted that despite the conservative catalogue description, the dishes displayed undeniable characteristics of genuine Qianlong period workmanship, suggesting that at least some bidders believed they had identified a pair of imperial-quality saucers that had been underestimated.
The dramatic result underscores the continued strength of the market for high-quality Qing porcelain, especially pieces associated with the 18th-century reign of the Qianlong Emperor, whose artistic patronage yielded some of the most refined and sought-after ceramics in Chinese history.
The sale, held at Tennants’ Leyburn headquarters, attracted international attention and reaffirmed the auction house’s reputation for uncovering hidden gems within regional collections.
