The Priceless Ming Jar Used as an Umbrella Stand | Christie's 

“That’s a nice umbrella stand” “ThAnks it’s 8th century”

And the owner never saw her umbrella stand again.

Waoh, it's absolutely flawless. The "paint" look so fresh and vibrant. Hard to believe that piece has survived in perfect condition for nearly 600 years.

Dying father: I'm going to give my first son my 2 stores, my second son my house, and an umbrella stand for my third son.

It sold for $20 million USD. Talk about an expensive umbrella stand.

Best I can do is 10$, and I'm taking a huge risk here.

It would be hilarious if the emporer had used it as an umbrella stand as well. Back to its original purpose.

Forget how much it’s worth, let’s appreciate how beautiful the workmanship is

the title was cut off on my screen so it read "priceless ming jar used as an umbrella" i was wondering how that would work.....

"The copyists don't see the base, or what you can't see in the catalogue". They do now.

Rick from Pawn Stars said, "I'll give you $30 and I'm taking all the risk here....it's going to sit and take up space in my shop".

That man busted out that flawless Mandarin/Cantonese like it was absolutely nothing.

600 years old and not a chip missing??? This is a beautiful piece of creative human hands!!! Stunning and priceless!!!

👀 wowww thats like winning the lottery

About 12 years ago, I was visiting with a neighboring Farmer. Like most farm houses, the farmers tend to put nice looking rocks around their homes, barns etc. Not necessarily because they like the rocks, but because rocks tear up your equipment and are routinely picked from farm fields. On that particular day, talking about rocks, as I am a major rockhound, I noticed a strange black "rock" near their front door. I instantly recognized the regmaglypts upon the surface of this fairly large iron/nickel meteorite that had been sitting out by the front door since their great grandfather built the farm house in 1867. It came out of the field behind their house. In searching the headlands as rocks are always put there after removal from the fields, we found several others in the five to fifty pound range. Over the following years, I have found over four hundred more specimens using my metal detector in that field and others along the northwest running strewn field. The meteorite by their front door sold in the high six figure range. They still have the other bigger meteorites that were on the headlands. Treasure is where you find it!

when you realize your grandmas house is filled with all kinds of art like this....

The quality of the craftsmanship must be amazing if it survived that long as an umbrella holder. The painting is amazing as well, glad they found it before it was too late

I’m more impressed how the doors close and vanish at the end 👀

What I find the most amazing is that it didn't break in the first 100 years already. There must have been no kids around.

“This monumental dragon jar comes from a private French family collection. It was passed by descent through the family to the current owner, a distinguished Swiss lady. The jar was in the collection of her grandmother, Mrs. M. Legrand (1883- 1978), who lived most of her life in Paris but was originally from Northern France. Mrs. Legrand had herself inherited the jar in 1926. The jar was passed to Mrs. Legrand’s son (the current owner’s uncle - 1908-1997) and appears in an inventory of 1981. It was inherited by the current owner from her uncle, following the latter’s death in 1997. In the present owner’s home the jar until recently stood in the hall and held walking sticks. For this latter use, the jar was protected by a fitted metal liner, which can clearly be seen in a contemporary photograph.”

Let me call a buddy of mine hes an expert in chinese porcelain

Beautiful object; but what I find more beautiful than the vase, is the beautiful diction of the lady who is speaking. I could listen to her all day and never tire of hearing her voice.

Soooo....is no one gonna acknowledge that the owner just got her umbrella holder stolen?

My Ikea umbrella stand: "dont look at me like this" Me: "you make me sick"

Rick from Pawn Stars: "I'll give you $650 for it."

15th century made in China vs made in China today

Plot twist: It was holding an umbrella from the Han dynasty worth even more that they threw out.

It's so amazing that something like this has survived for so long.

I wonder just how many items have been either used casually or scrapped because the owner didn't know just quite what it was they owned

Wow. All of a sudden the clay ashtray I made in 1984 doesn't look so pretty anymore.

There's stuff in landfills right now that is literally worth over a million dollars if you just picked it up, cleaned it off and took it to an expert. That's crazy to think about.

A great work of art and artistry indeed.

Fantastic object, really nice of you, Marco, to show this lovely piece to us, good work there! Really impressive jar!

Amazing that it survived thru all these years. Love artifacts...so interesting regardless of what culture

I could listen to this lady talk all day. Her voice and accent is soo soothing...

I’m a Chinese native speaker and the way that host pronounced the word 宣德 sounded like “garlic”... I was so confused about what emperor reigned in the Ming dynasty was called “Garlic” lmao

Imagine the journey this jar has made. From China, around 1600 AD, to some residence, to be casually used as if it were bought at Walmart.

The detail is incredible. What a find!

I’ve seen some comments saying that the owner had the vase stolen from her or that she wasn’t paid - that’s just not the case. She was asked to send her vase for inspection and appraisal to Christie’s ( which is not a museum btw, it’s a world renowned auction house). They told her the actual time period and value of the piece, and as the owner she had full day over whether they could sell it or not. Auction houses take a percentage for commission, but she would’ve made off with the majority of the sale, which she did when it sold for 20 million. It wasn’t some pull the wool over her eyes and make off like bandits situation.

Stunning & fascinating!!

Thankfully this amazing Ming piece was not damaged during its years as an umbrella stand.

The funny thing is I bought a Chinese looking ceramic tall cylindrical vase at a local chain store for guess what? use as an umbrella stand. I would like to think I would have noticed the quality and fineness of this object - and I do have a "nicer" commercial porcelain on a bookshelf - but yeah that might imply my first impulse like her would have been to use it as an umbrella stand. 😆

Incredible artistry for something that old to look brand new.

Xuande emperor hiding in the 21st century: "oh that? You wouldn't want that, it's worthless, just an old umbrella stand. Why don't we move to another room?"

Funny that the owners thought it was just an 18thC decorative piece, which in itself would have been worth a lot of money still.

Everyone's focusing on the value and the fact that it was an umbrella stand. What I can't get over is that someone SHIPPED this anywhere. What a responsibility!

Omg it’s absolutely exquisite!!! ❤️❤️❤️

I know 2 brothers from Peckham that had a solid silver pocket marine timekeeper that they used to use as an egg timer. It sold for £6.2 million.

"Grandson comes over bumps into it and shatters to pieces"

Note the way they slyly avoiding talking about buying the vase, Because they most likely didnt pay her shit for it.

Absolutely magnificent. I love blue and white porcelains.

Definitely gorgeous!

Amazing that it lasted so long without getting broken beyond repair or thrown out

SHOCKING that someone was using this to hold umbrellas!!!!!??? Very happy that it has found a great new home at Christie's on display!!!! :)

That is incredibly beautiful

The vase is gorgeous

When do things like this get forgotten about. It could only have gotten stolen. But still handled carefully over the centuries.

Gorgeous

wonderful and great piece!

not the same but my mother used an incredible Roseville Dogwood planter as a rock jar for years! I'd be home looking at it hoping nothing happened to it before I got it. It's high on a mounted cabinet in MY house now!!!! that is a beautiful Ming vase! ( umbrella stand!)I LOVE pottery

How did Marco hear about it and what motivated him to have it sent to London? The owner thought it was a much newer object so someone must have seen it and known enough about Chinese porcelains to know that it could be much more.

I have a plumb shaped vase, with 5 sometimes 4 and sometimes three clawed dragons, all chasing the sun amongst the clouds. There is a typeset, handmade sticker on the base that reads "from Canton". I think it may be another collector's [stamp] sticker. Someday, I'll get a friend to take me over to Skinners, for First Tuesdays, for an appraisal.

Very much enjoyed this video.

Beautiful !

Ceramics Specialist- "Your umbrella stand is actually a vase during the 8th Century! It's a priceless piece of history! We'd love to give you a very generous amount for your donation-" Owner- "That sounds great and all but my floors are getting wet so um, I'd like my umbrella stand back." Ceramics Specialist- "I understand. I will get it back to you by this week. Thank you for letting us see it." *hangs up* *dials assistant* Ceramics Expert- " Fire up the kiln...I'm working on an...umbrella stand."

Ill continue using this as an umbrella stand, it looks like it can hold alot!

I paid $89 for a 1975 repro. Love it and so do my umbrellas! Some day it will sell for $200 or more.

Crazy RU-vid brought me here randomly in 2021 for some reason. My goodness, that is beautiful

My left ear loved this

As he says, "This is the beauty of Chinese art, unless you have a little understanding if it you can walk past it and not realize that it's something incredibly important. " Ino what he means, my dog leaves an 'incredibly important work of art on the ground" every time I take him for a walk.

Something nice to have for a whole lot of rainy days.

The most amazing thing is that it survived for that long, without getting broken

The Asian lady saying “catalog” in that accent made everything else worth it

imagine surviving all these years, just to be used as an umbrella stand

It is in such good condition - amazing

Beautiful

I love how the 1st guys states that an 18th century jar is just a decorative object.

The experts: ahh yes, an exquisite piece of art from the ming dinasty, from the reign of the swanda emperor. No doubt is a unique piece of history for generations to appreciate... The owner: so... can i get my uMbr3lla 5tAnd back pLeAse

曾志芬小姐的講解水平一流。應該點讚。

it looks brand new. amazing

The question is, how did the owner came into possession of that artefact?

Ming dynasty was defeated by Flash Gordon in the 80's

The drawing its beautifully detailed

So Beautiful

I don’t even have an umbrella stand...

It must be incredibly well made to withstand so much trauma over the years.

It is a stunning jar 🐲

Did no one in the house notice the exquisite level of detail & the distinct blue/white Ming pattern?!

Imagine being unable to make the rent yet you have 20 million holding your umbrella.

I would love to know the story of how it ended up as an umbrella stand, was probably in some junk shop for £20 and they had absolutely no idea

kept waiting for them to drop it

The next episode is a priceless umbrella stored in a cat littler box.

It would be interesting to hear the story of its journey over the 600 years since it was made. How did it end up as an umbrella stand?

It's gorgeous

I have also heard of a Ming bowl being used for feeding the dog.

Have you guys ever dropped and broken one of your ceramic pieces?!

So good

20 million , than the new owner took it home filled it up to the rim with dirt to plant a bonsai tree , than the house cat jumped on it to take a shit and knock it over...the end .

I use my late Ming vase as an umbrella stand. I keep my collection of rare umbrellas and walking sticks in it. It sits on a hand carved wooden platform.

Very stunning and beautiful