For decades, an ornamental vase with gilded, dragon-shaped handles sat in an open cupboard in a central European country home. Four cats roamed freely around it. Cats may have nine lives, but delicate Chinese porcelain vases have only one. So it is fortunate indeed that this fragile 18th-century specimen, which may have been crafted for a Qianlong emperor, survived to sell for $9 million at a Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction. The vase surfaced to the public after its elderly owner, who inherited it long ago without any provenance information, decided…
