A $35 Chinese Bowl From A Yard Sale Sold For $722,000

A Chinese porcelain bowl bought for just $35 in Connecticut fetched a staggering $721,800 at a Sotheby's auction Wednesday.

The small blue-and-white floral bowl discovered at a New Haven, Connecticut, yard sale last year features motifs of lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and pomegranate blossoms. Though it may seem like a typical bowl to the untrained eye, experts determined that it was a 15th-century antique originally commissioned by China's imperial court during the Ming dynasty, CNN reported.

The artifact is one of only seven such bowls known to exist in the world and was sold as part of Sotheby’s Asia Week events. It was initially estimated to sell for $300,000 to $500,000 at auction, the Associated Press reported.

The names of the buyer and seller were not revealed, according to Sotheby’s.

However, Angela McAteer, the head of the auction house's Chinese art department, told CNN that the man "didn't haggle over the $35 asking price" when he bought the bowl. The unnamed seller then sent photos of the bowl to auction specialists, who were able to trace its origins.

Known as a "lotus bowl" due to its resemblance to a lotus bud, the artifact originated from the Yongle Emperor's court when he reigned from 1403 to 1424.

"(The bowl had an) incredibly smooth porcelain body" and a "really unctuous silky glaze," McAteer said, which she noted "was never replicated in future reigns of dynasties." In addition to its vibrant cobalt blue coloring, she added, "it had all the hallmarks that one would expect of these great commissions of the Yongle period."

The small, detailed bowl measures just over 6 inches in diameter and likely held some artistic and practical value to the court, McAteer said.

Some of the six other bowls of its kind are housed by institutions like the National Palace Museum in Taipei, as well as the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum in London.