Saleroom manager Sarah Plimmer said bidding for the vase, auctioned by Oliver Hiles, began at the lower guide price figure of £250 and shot up to £1,500 in the room.
However, the action then switchied to just two rivals who pushed the price into five figures.
Despite it being given an estimate of between £250 and £350, it was sold for the record price to an unnamed bidder who was participating in the auction via telephone.
She said: “I was delighted. There was spontaneous applause in the room because it was a record price for the saleroom. The vendor was delighted too.
“Apparently, following discussion with interested parties in the room, it was established that it was a copy and if it had been a genuine piece it would have been worth more than £1 million.”
Mrs Plimmer said the saleroom’s previous best had been the £5,000 commanded by three double basses.
The 18in-tall vase, which had sat on the seller’s staircase for years, was put up for sale after the family decided to move house.
Yellow and featuring iron-red bats, clouds, oriental figures and landscapes, it was made in China in the 1840s and brought back to the UK by the vendor’s husband’s grandfather.
Mrs Plimmer said the piece, which was damaged around the foot rim and one side, was ‘one of the more interesting pieces she had dealt with’.
