HONG KONG.- Today at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Autumn Sale 2009, an outstanding Imperial carved zitan ‘dragon’ throne of Qianlong period was sold for HK$85,780,000/US$11,068,193 to a bidder in the room, breaking the world auction record for any Chinese furniture.

Bidding opened at HK$13 million, quickly reaching HK$20 million, when a bidder in the room shouted out a bid of HK$30 million. The frenzied bidding continued for some time, with a new bidder over the telephone joining the competition at HK$60 million. After a total of 36 furious bids which lasted for a tension-filled ten minutes, the throne was eventually sold for an astonishing hammer price of HK$76 million (HK$85 million including buyer’s premium), far exceeding the high estimate of HK$30 million/ US$3.9 Million.

Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, commented after this morning’s sale, “This throne was literally the seat of Imperial power, and this has aroused enormous interest among discerning collectors from around the world. As the finest piece of Imperial furniture to come to the market in decade, it is appropriate that it has now broken the world auction record for Chinese furniture.