The vase was damaged. A small piece was missing to the neck, cracks were visible to the other side while a firing crack ran through the middle of the underglaze blue and white Qianlong seal mark to its base.
However, copper-red is notoriously difficult to control during firing and both the strong colour and the painting, that imitates 15th century Ming dynasty porcelain, were much admired.
A former girlfriend of the private vendor had bought the moonflask 40 years ago for £18 at a Berkshire auction.
Here, it fetched £110,000 (plus 17.5 per cent premium) selling to leading London dealer Mayfair-based Eskenazi.
