Key facts
- A Japanese tea bowl sold for 800 million yen ($5 million) at Mainichi Auction in Tokyo in late February.
- The sale set a new in-house record for the auction house.
- Interest in Japanese traditional arts, including tea ceremony and crafts, has been sparked by manga series in China.
A black raku-ware tea bowl, formerly owned by a significant historic tea ceremony master in Japan, fetched a record price of 800 million yen ($5 million) at Mainichi Auction in Tokyo in late February. The sale marked a new in-house record for the auction house.
Interest in Japanese traditional arts, such as the tea ceremony and other crafts, has reportedly been boosted in China by the popularity of manga series. While this specific tea bowl's buyer was not identified, other Chinese buyers have previously set records for Chinese ceramics, such as a Song Dynasty brush washer bowl that sold for $37.7 million in 2017.