Calligraphy by Qianlong Emperor among items up for auction

A calligraphic work said to be by the Qianlong Emperor (1711-99) will go on sale at Chiswick Auctions' Asian Art sale in London later this month.

The scroll of calligraphy recites a poem by Wei Zhuang (836-910) that is included in the Literary Compendium, the Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature, which was commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor in 1772.

Chiswick Auctions said calligraphy from the time of the Qianlong Emperor's reign come up occasionally, but works by the emperor himself are unusual. The emperor was an esteemed writer of prose and poetry and practiced both calligraphy and painting.

"It came from a private German collection and the gentleman who owned it drove with it in the back of his car all the way from Germany," said Lazarus Halstead, head of Asian Art at Chiswick Auctions. "He opened his boot and revealed various different pieces and this was one of the pieces in his collection. It was quite exciting because it's not everyday you see a work like this come to market."

The piece is estimated to fetch 8,000 pounds ($10,000).

Another highlight of the sale is an 18th century imperial cup from the time of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) that was discovered in an attic after having been packed away and forgotten about for 30 years.

Halstead said: "We are delighted to offer this Qing dynasty imperial interpretation of a 15th century Chenghua chicken cup. This version bears an apocryphal Chenghua mark, but the design of the cockerel, chicken, and chicks is charmingly reimagined for 18th century imperial taste."

The auction house said 18th century imperial porcelain, such as the cup, can often make hundreds of thousands of pounds, but, because this one is slightly damaged, it has been given the conservative pre-sale estimate of between 5,000 and 8,000 pounds.

However, the cup has already generated interest and Chiswick Auctionssaid it could make in excess of 20,000 pounds.

The Chiswick Auctions sale takes place on Nov 12.