Top 10 Chinese spring auction porcelain sales

1. A Ming blue and white "dragon" jar with Xuande reign mark, HK$158 million [Photo provided to China Daily]

As more Chinese buyers participate in the Chinese porcelain world market, their tastes are increasingly taken into consideration when antique dealers and auctioneers decide what to offer.

The star of the just-concluded spring sales is undoubtedly a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) blue and white jar that fetched HK$158 million ($20 million), in Christie's Hong Kong sales. It was sold to a mainland buyer from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

A sale dedicated to the Roger Pilkington Chinese ceramics collection, offered by Sotheby's Hong Kong, also drew many mainland collectors and generated several pricey transactions. The top lot is a Ming blue and white moon-shape flask, which sold for HK$110 million.

These sales keep sending important messages that Chinese bidders are more willing to pay for high quality, one-of-a-kind goods that are rarely seen in the market and boast a sound provenance. They are quite cautious about the pieces with slight imperfections or from a questionable source.

This is quite unlike the situation during the booming years around 2008, when investors created a lot of market bubbles and very minor goods generated mind-blogging high prices.

Market observers say this is because buyers today are more experienced and knowledgeable.

A larger part of this spring's top sales were made in Hong Kong, proving the city's marketplace is an international hub capable of sourcing quality goods from worldwide collectors.

Here are the top Chinese porcelain sales during the spring sales.