Ireland:- A Chinese vase originally valued at €800-€1,200 has sold at auction for €740,000, in what is believed to be the highest ever sale for an art object in Ireland. The Qing Period Blue and White Double Gourd Vase went under the hammer at Sheppard’s Auction House in Durrow, Co. Laois today. Despite being given a guide price of no more than €1,200, one man from Paris splurged €740,000 to take the 18th century piece home.