Rare Chinese vase kept in kitchen sells at auction for almost £1.5m

The blue-glazed vase, decorated with images of cranes and bats, is ‘testament to the creativity’ of the Qianlong craftspeople, said the auctioneers. Photograph: Dreweatts Auctioneers/PA

An extremely rare 18th-century Chinese vase bought by a surgeon in England for a few hundred pounds in the 1980s has sold at auction for almost £1.5m.

The 60cm (2 ft) blue-glazed, silver and gilt vase, decorated with cranes and bats, was created for the court of the Qianlong Emperor in the 1700s.