Paris appeal court annulled a €2.8m Chinese vase sale over doubts about its dating

The Paris court of appeal ruled on 23 October 2025 that Galerie Kraemer must repay €2.8m to the buyer of a Chinese porcelain vase, because of serious doubts about the 18th-century dating of its gilt-bronze mounts, The Art Newspaper reported on 16 January 2026. The dispute had run for eight years.

The buyer, a collector, bought the vase in 2012 at the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris. Four years later it was examined by an expert, who judged it highly improbable that the bronzes dated from the time of Louis XVI and suggested the vase may have been made around the 1840s.

The expert also noted the object’s unusual height of 108cm, the high level of lead in the alloy, its stylistic details and gilding altered in a recent restoration. Two other experts stated that the vase could not have been mounted in the 18th century.

The court said the creation date could not be ascertained, but the doubts were enough to annul the sale. An expert commissioned by the gallery had concluded the vase was certainly of 18th-century manufacture. In 2021 a commercial court had rejected the collector’s claim.

According to investigators, the vase sold for €815 in Brazil about 20 years ago, then passed through a Paris flea market and three antique dealers before Laurent Kraemer bought it for €180,000.

The gallery has been involved in other cases over furniture, and was acquitted of deception by gross negligence in one involving chairs sold to the same collector. It denies wrongdoing in the others, and says it will appeal the vase ruling.