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

Glazed porcelain piece, created for Qianglong imperial court in the 1700s, had been purchased for a few hundred pounds in the 1980s

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.