Ancient Chinese porcelain flask sold for 610,000 euros: report

An ancient Chinese blue-and-white porcelain flask sold for 610,000 euros (about 672,247 U.S. dollars) at an auction in Ireland, local media RTE reported on Friday. 

The auction was held at Sheppard's Irish Auction House in Durrow, a town in County Laois in south-east Ireland on Thursday, said the report.

The auction house described the flask as a rare artifact produced in the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which extended from 1402 to 1424.

According to the report, the bidding price for the flask started at 80,000 euros and after rounds of bidding the flask went to a buyer from the Chinese mainland, whose identity is not disclosed.

The flask had been owned by a family from Cork City in southern Ireland since the 1960s, said the report.

Details about the family were not disclosed. (1 euro = 1.1 U.S. dollars)