So this 18th-century Qianlong dynasty porcelain vase sells for $85,000,000. My first reaction is that I need to raise all of my prices. European Art pottery is much too under-priced. For $85,000,000, I could probably buy every important Art Nouveau and Japonist vase that exists worldwide. Some people say it is apples and oranges— I say sure. Apples and Oranges are both fruit. Chinese pottery and European pottery is all still pottery. The difference is that in Asia, porcelain and pottery is valued in a much more ambitious and culturally valid way. In an Asian cultural context, pottery functions rather the way painted pictures do within the West. Our big sale records are all for oil on canvas— in Asia, glazed, painted-upon vessels break records.
