During a busy week of Chinese art sales in Hong Kong, an adelicate porcelain bowl with a diameter of less than 4.5 inches sold for more than $25 million.
The antique, described as "highly important" by auction house Sotheby's, is a part of a small collection of ceramics decorated in Beijing's imperial workshops in the 18th century.
The bowl was made under the rule of China's Yongzheng Emperor, who reigned from 1722 to 1735.
(though the enamel was likely painted shortly after his death).
It belongs to a custom known as "falangcai," or "foreign colours,"
Which refers to porcelain made in Jingdezhen's imperial kilns but enamelled by craftsmen in Beijing's Forbidden City.
The bowl, which features two swallows, a willow, a blossoming apricot tree, and 198.2 million Hong Kong dollars, was purchased on Saturday.