Art expert fired over gross underestimation of artefact
A French art expert has been fired after grossly undervaluing a Chinese vase at 4,000 times less than its sale price.
The vase in question, which was originally estimated at €2,000 ($3,119 AUD), sold for €9 million ($14,000,000 AUD) at French Osenat auction in Fontainebleau house in early October.
The original estimate reflected the expert’s view that it was a 20th-century decorative piece, however buyers suspected that it might date back further to the 18th-century.
Despite the date discrepancy, it is still unclear as to what drove the price so much higher.
“The expert made a mistake. One person alone against 300 interested Chinese buyers cannot be right,” auction house president Jean-Pierre Osenat told The Guardian last week.
“He was working for us. He no longer works for us. It was, after all, a serious mistake.”
The anonymous seller found the Chinese ‘Tianqiuping’ style vase while clearing out her mother’s estate.
While the dragon and cloud motif is greatly sought after among Asian collectors, some believe to have spotted a stamp belonging to 18th-century Chinese emperor Qianlong on the vase.
“We don’t know whether [the vase] is old or not or why it sold for such a price,” explained Cédric Laborde, the director of the auction house’s Asian arts department.
“The valuation corresponded to what the expert thought. In China, copying something, like an 18th-century vase, is also an art.”
The unnamed and now-fired expert is reportedly standing by his original valuation of the Chinese vase.
Image credits: Getty Images / Osenat