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A ceramic cup painted with chickens from the Ming Dynasty will be listed in the Sotheby's spring auction. According to deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia and International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, the precious chicken cup will be included at Sotheby's auction on April 8th. The cup is considered to be a "potential record breaker" among all the Chinese ceramics and works of art auctioned at Sotheby's previously. The rear Ming Dynasty cup is likely valued between HK$200 million and HK$300 million. The chicken cup may become the most prized collections in the history of Sotheby's auction.
The chicken cup used to be in the revered collections of Mrs. Leopold Dreyfus, a London-based collector. Later, the cup was collected by Meiyintang collection. It is known Eskenazi bought the cup for about HK$29.17 million in 1999, and sold it one year later to Meiyintang collection. The price set a new world auction record for Ming Porcelain at Sotheby's.
The chicken cups were considered to be invaluable since Ming Dynasty. So far, there are only three of these chicken cups in private collections. The same cup was sold for auction in 1980 and 1999. Both prices broke the previous world record for Chinese arts. Nicolas Chow, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia, commented about the precious cup: "The glaze is extraordinarily silky. It's a real joy to caress. I would say apart from the design, which is unmannered, very simple and modest, it's really the tactile dimension which is so remarkable."
