Three Chinese porcelain snuff bottles that are being auctioned by Bonhams in Hong Kong on May 28. Each snuff bottle is expected to be sold for between HK$60,000 （$7,732） and HK$120,000.[Agencies]
 

LONDON: A collection of antique Chinese snuff bottles is expected to fetch at least 20 million pounds （$32 million） when it is offered at a series of sales in Hong Kong, the London-based auction house Bonhams said yesterday.

The late Hong Kong-based businessman, George Bloch, and his wife Mary spent more than two decades collecting 1,720 Qing Dynasty bottles which have been shown around the world.

"It’s a collection that was formed with a large amount of intelligence, integrity and a lot of money," said London-based dealer Robert Hall, a specialist who advised the Bloches.

Newly wealthy Chinese are keen to acquire high-quality objects from their heritage, particularly when associated with emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties, said dealers. Prices for porcelain of these eras increased 48.2 percent between 2005 and 2009, according to UK-based database Art Market Research.

The first of an expected 10 biannual Bloch auctions will be held on May 28, when 140 bottles may raise more than 1.5 million pounds, said Bonhams.

"The collection was begun at a time when not many people were collecting snuff bottles in a serious way," Hall said.

A mid-18th-century porcelain "moon flask" bottle painted with a winter landscape commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor is expected to fetch as much as HK$2 million （$257,634）. A similarly dated Beijing enamel bottle showing a Western mother and child has a high estimate of HK$3 million.

Another Qianlong "European subject" enamel bottle, from the collection of Vancouver philanthropist Mary Margaret Young, sold at Christie’s International in New York in 2008 for a record $825,000.