Price of emperor's floral art set to blossom at spring auction

Yu Daming, general manager of the ceramics and works of the art department with China Guardian, says Qianlong wrote a poem to express his love for the utopian world in Tao's fable, which was also the dream of many intellectuals in Chinese history.

Through the vase, the emperor could obtain a travel-like experience by enjoying the landscape where lots of peach blossoms scatter around the mountains and along a river.

"In terms of skills, colors and painting techniques, the vase was the highest quality of its time," says Yu, who estimates that it will fetch in tens of millions of yuan.