A CHINESE snuff bottle was sold for £27,000 at an Oxford auction house.

The Chinese, 'mottled emerald green jade gourd snuff bottle', dating from 1800-1850, created a 'bidding frenzy at Mallams’ Asian Art Sale last week. 

The object features a pink quartz and gold coloured metal stopper, tortoiseshell spoon and red and black velvet fitted case according to the auctioneers, and it came to Mallams from a local descendant of Mr Ferruccio Stefenelli, the Consul of the Italian Concession of Tientsin in the 1930s. 

This rare and unusual lot saw the price soaring ever upwards, eventually selling to a UK phone bidder for £27,000, more than five times top estimate.

The two-day Asian Art Sale achieved total sales of just over £422,000, with bidders using Mallams’ own online bidding platform, MallamsLive, accounting for just over 40 per cent of this total.

Day one of the sale focussed on Chinese ceramics, art and textiles and two other lots also achieved prices in excess of £20,000 on the day. 

Day two of the sale continued with a further 160 Chinese lots and 250 lots of Japanese, Islamic, Indian and Asian art. 

The standout lot from that day was a Chinese pierced and carved jade finial dating from the 18th century.

It depicted a dragon and crane amidst a trailing lotus plant and stood just 4.8cm high. 

An overseas bidder, via MallamsLive, made the winning bid of £9,200.

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