THE rare two-hundred-year-old Chinese porcelain moonflask acquired in China one hundred years ago and brought to Britain by a wealthy Shirenewton tea merchant sold for a huge £1,482,500 at Bonhams in London on Thursday 7th November; nearly £700,000 more than expected.

The "magnificent and rare" imperial underglaze blue and copper-red turquoise-glazed 'Dragon' moonflask was made in China for an Imperial palace sometime between 1736 and 1795. It was later acquired by tea merchant, Captain Charles Oswald Liddell who worked in China from 1877 to 1913 and who later came to live at Shirenewton Hall where he died on 26th September,1941.

Before the auction, Captain Liddell's moonflask had been expected to fetch between £500,000 and £800,000.