Bonhams Chinese ceramics sale records $274,086, led by a dragon panel

A silk brocade dragon panel and a wucai dragon-and-phoenix bowl led the recorded prices in Bonhams's Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Online sale. The auction closed on 25 September 2026 with $274,086^[1] in recorded sales and a 76.4%^[1] sell-through rate. Reading the two leading lots together reveals why a catalog title, the object description and the result should be kept distinct when this sale is used as a comparable.

Bonhams dates the silk brocade panel to the 17th century and identifies it as property from a Colorado private collection. Its catalog description gives a sight size of 25 1/4 by 39 3/4 inches and describes woven dragon motifs. The panel's recorded sold price was $30,720^[2], compared with a pre-sale estimate of $10,000^[2] to $15,000^[2]. In this case, the stated private-collection attribution is part of the specific object's catalog record, alongside its dimensions and textile description. The price belongs to that documented lot rather than to a generic category of dragon textiles.

The bowl calls for a different reading. Its title includes a Daoguang mark, while Bonhams dates the object itself to the 20th century. The catalog describes a six-character Daoguang seal mark in underglaze blue and says the bowl was offered without reserve. Its recorded sold price was $28,160^[3] against an estimate of $1,500^[3] to $2,500^[5][3]. The difference between a mark and the cataloged date is material when selecting comparable bowls; the title alone does not describe an object made during the Daoguang period.

Other recorded prices show how varied the objects and their estimates were within this one online session. A pair of carved amber taotie-mask vases and covers recorded $23,040^[5] against an estimate of $2,500 to $3,500^[5]. A small steatite jar cataloged as Tang Dynasty recorded $12,800^[6] against $2,000^[6] to $3,000^[6]. A huanghuali square three-tier picnic box recorded $8,960^[8], within its $7,000^[8] to $9,000^[8] estimate. These entries place the textile and bowl alongside sculpture, small decorative objects and furniture, each with its own catalog description and price range.

The result record also contains entries without a sold price. A huanghuali corner-leg tapered cabinet was estimated at $15,000 to $25,000^[4], and a limestone carving of a celestial attendant at $8,000^[9][7] to $12,000^[7]; neither has a sold price in the current sale data. Together with the sale's sell-through figure, those entries distinguish the leading prices from the broader catalog. For valuation work, the useful evidence is the exact lot record: what Bonhams described, the estimate it set and, where recorded, the sold price. The source data does not specify whether the sold-price field includes buyer's premium, so the comparisons here use the recorded figure without assigning a premium basis.