'Extremely Rare' Imperial Chinese Porcelain Pot | Antiques Roadshow

I first met the pot about 35 years ago in Reading, in the house in Reading. The lady that I got it from was a relation of my husband's. And when she moved to Canada later on, she gave the pot to me. Well, what is so incredibly rare about this is that this piece is a piece of Imperial Chinese porcelain. It's made for the Imperial Court, or pretty close to it. It's a very fine example of what you might call classicism in China in the 18th century. It's an old shaped vessel. It's called a Hou, H-O. It's painted in underglaze cobalt blue under this rather thick and grainy glaze. Very typical of this period. And it's painted with, I suppose, designs which are really quite traditional. The lotus on the neck up here. And then these motifs down all the way around the belly of the pot. I don't know if you know what they are. Well, I recognise that these are carp. Oh, yes. And the chrysanthemum. But these are all Buddhist motifs. And these are called the Eight Buddhist Emblems. In fact, this one round here, this one, this curious one round here, is called the Endless Knot. Which, in fact, really is an indication, actually is an icon for the entrails, believe it or not, of Buddha. And it's a motif that's almost Byzantine. And the next one is the Twin Fish. Which, in fact, ultimately means, I suppose, a symbol of marital harmony. So all these things say something about, connected with religion, if you like, in the Far East. But what is special about this is that it has the rain mark and the seal mark of the Emperor. And there it is there. There we have the seal mark of the Emperor Qianlong. And this is actually painted, the style of this is painted in, I suppose, early Ming, early 15th century style. That's why they're looking at old shapes, old designs, and incorporating them in this vessel. So we're talking about something pretty rare. Some of these vessels do have lids. I was wondering if it doesn't look as if it ever had a lid, and yet... It could do. And in perfect state, this is worth many tens of thousands of pounds. This piece here is broken. I'm not saying you've broken it, but it's broken. It's an old break. We're dealing with a market which is concerned with perfection, in terms of material. The Chinese market, the people who buy this, will want things in mint state. So they won't pay tens and tens of thousands of pounds. They will probably pay maybe five or ten thousand pounds for a repaired piece. That's what this is worth. Somewhere between five and ten thousand pounds. Amazing.