An anonymous buyer has set a new record for a Chinese work of art at Sotheby’s Hong Kong sale earlier today. Bidding took place over 20 minutes:

Sotheby’s in Hong Kong made a new world auction record for Chinese Ceramics when a Ru guanyao brush washer sold for HK$294.3 million / US$37.7 million. Ru guanyao, the court ware of the late Northern Song (960-1127), was commissioned by the imperial court and is the most revered of the Five Great Kilns. Its quasi mythical status over the millennium can be attributed to its short-lived production period, generally believed to not have exceeded twenty years. The washer is one of only four known heirloom Ru wares in private hands.