Jade collected by former POW among items for sale at auction

Jade collected by former POW among items for sale at auction

Auction house Christie's highlight lot is a rare large Ming-style blue and white moonflask. (Photo provided to China Daily)

Other highlighted items in the sale include a rare large Ming-style blue and white moonflask from the Yongzheng period (1725-35), which is expected to sell for more than 1 million pounds.

"It's like an East meets West cultural exchange, all in this vase," Hunt said. "The shape is based on metalwork from central Asia and the Islamic world and these cultural exchanges happened along the Silk Road, so the shape isn't typically Chinese."

The auction house will also offer The Soame Jenyns Collection of Japanese and Chinese Art, which is led by a gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara (1426-35), which has an estimate of 200,000 pounds.

Radiological examinations of the figure have revealed small consecratory objects inside it, including a miniature scroll, various textiles fragments, and possibly four beads.

Radiograph showing the interior of a rare gilt-bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara with an estimate of £200,000 at Christie's. (Photo provided to China Daily)