Right after buying the bowl from the market, the owner took pictures and sent it to experts for appraisal. The bowl was later identified by the Ming dynasty produced during the reign of King Minh Thanh To (1403-1424). The bowl is white with delicate motifs of lotus flowers, peony flowers, chrysanthemums and pomegranates. The diameter of the bowl is about 15 cm. The lotus bowl originated from the reign of King Minh Thanh To. Photo: Sotheby’s. The ancient bowl is named “lotus bowl” based on the lotus pattern on the outer body. The bowl is priced at 300,000-500,000 USD, 14,300 times more than the original purchase price by the owner. Auction organization Sotheby’s does not disclose the identity of the owner who bought the bowl from the second hand market. “The bowl has an extremely smooth porcelain body and a smooth enamel finish that doesn’t wear,” said Angela McAteer, head of Sotheby’s China Antiques division. The technology for making this bowl is not replicated in the later Ming dynasties, nor in successive dynasties, Ms. McAteer said. According to representatives of Sotheby’s, there are only 6 bowls in the world similar to antiques found in Connecticut, including those on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Antiques are scheduled to be auctioned on March 17 during Sotheby’s “Asian Week” event. In addition to the “lotus bowl”, other Chinese antiques at auction include a fine Tang Dynasty silver bowl and an 18th century jade vase. These two items are priced at 1, 5 million USD.

The bowl, identified as a rare Ming-era antiquity, even achieved a much higher selling price than Sotheby’s initial valuation of $ 300,000-500,000. It sold for $ 721,800, nearly 29,000 times the original purchase price from the second hand market. The lotus bowl originating from the reign of Emperor Minh Thanh To has just been sold for $ 721,800. Photo: Sotheby’s. The bowl is white with delicate motifs of lotus flowers, peony flowers, chrysanthemums and pomegranates. The diameter of the bowl is about 15 cm. While auction organizer Sotheby’s did not disclose the identity of the owner who bought the precious bowl, Sotheby’s head of the Chinese arts department, Angela McAteer, told CNN By phone prior to the March 17 auction, the person who found the bowl at a second hand market did not haggle when buying it for an asking price of 35 USD. Immediately after buying, he sent a photo of the bowl to auction specialists, and it was immediately identified as an object of historical significance. “Instinctively we have a very, very good feeling about the bowl,” said Ms. McAteer. After more thorough examination, experts identified this antiquity – also known as the “lotus bowl” – produced by the Ming court during the reign of Emperor Minh Thanh To (1403-1424) – during period is famous for its special sophisticated porcelain technique. “The bowl has an extremely smooth porcelain body and the glossy enamel is not abrasive,” Ms. McAteer said. The industry of making this bowl is no longer found in later dynasties. Photo: Sotheby’s. The bowl-making industry was not replicated in the later Ming dynasties, nor in successive dynasties, Ms. McAteer added. According to representatives of Sotheby’s, there are only 6 bowls in the world similar to antiques found in Connecticut, including those on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Illustration of lightning hitting Earth 4 billion years ago.

However, according to geologists, lightning strikes are just as important as meteorites to create perfect conditions for life on Earth.

Scientists believe that the minimum amount of minerals present on early Earth was caused by billions of lightning strikes.

Detect important minerals

A study published in Nature Communications led by scientist Benjamin Hess of the School of Earth and Environment, at the University of Leeds (UK) looked at the possibility that lightning could contribute to life.

The scientists found that life could develop on Earth-like planets through the same mechanism at any time if the atmospheric conditions were right.

Hess et al. Studied an exceptionally large and primitive fulgurite sample. This is a rock created when lightning strikes the ground. This model was formed when lightning struck a house in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (USA) in 2016 and donated to the Geology department at the nearby Wheaton College.

The Leeds researchers were initially interested in how fulgurite was formed, but were later intrigued when they discovered that there was an unusual amount of a phosphorus mineral called schreibersite in the sample at Glen Ellyn.

Phosphorus is essential for life and plays an important role in all life processes from movement to growth and reproduction. Phosphorus has been present on Earth since infancy and is in minerals that cannot be dissolved in water, however, schreibersite can.

Mr. Hess is a graduate student at Yale University, Connecticut (USA), said, “Many people believe that life on Earth originates from shallow surface waters according to the famous” small warm pond “concept of the house. Darwin Science ”.

“Most models of how life might form on the Earth’s surface show that meteors carry small amounts of schreibersite.

Our research found a relatively large amount of shreibersite in fulgurite “- he said -” Lightning hits the Earth regularly, which proves that phosphorus is necessary for the origin of life on the Earth’s surface not only. rely on asteroid collisions.

Perhaps more importantly, this also means that the formation of life on another Earth could still take place long after meteoric collisions became rare.

The phosphorus minerals produced by the lightning bolts exceeded those from meteorites when Earth was about 3.5 billion years old (the age of the earliest known microscopic fossils), the team estimated. That underscores the importance of lightning to life on Earth.

Furthermore, lightning bolts are much less destructive than meteorite collisions, meaning they are less likely to interfere with fragile evolutionary paths in which life can
develope.

The fulgurite was excavated in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (USA).

The role of lightning quantity

Lightning is also a topic of interest to scientists when thinking about life on Earth in the early days because it leads to the production of gases like nitrous oxide that played a role in the origin of life. .

Hess and his other researchers used this existing research to investigate and review the rate of lightning strikes on early Earth. Today, we have 560 million lightning strikes a year.

Meanwhile, early Earth, this number was from 1 to 5 billion per year, of which 100 million to 1 billion lightning strikes the ground. Over a billion years, lightning strikes can reach 1 trillion and generate a lot of phosphorus.

In the early days, lightning struck more on Earth because there was more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide contributes to global temperatures and the higher the temperature, the more intense and frequent the storms are, Hess said.

“Carbon dioxide levels soared on Earth early after a Mars-sized object crashed into Earth and created the Moon 4.5 billion years ago. This also releases a lot of gas from inside the Earth, like carbon dioxide, which then gets trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere and leads to more lightning, ”explained Hess.

The fulgurite fragment is found in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (USA).

Expert review

Dr., Associate Professor of Geochemistry Jason Harvey and Professor of Geology and Structural Construction Sandra Piazolo at Leeds University’s School of Earth and Environment advised Mr. Hess on the above research project.

“The initial meteor bombardment was a one-time event in the Solar System,” said Dr. Harvey. When the planets reach their mass, the additional distribution of phosphorus from the meteorites becomes negligible.

On the other hand, lightning is not a one-off event, the elements necessary for the formation of life can thus be transferred to the surface of a planet. This means that life can appear on Earth-like planets at any given time.

Meanwhile, Professor Piazolo said: “The above interesting research opens the door to some future paths when searching for and analyzing in depth new fulgurite in the early Earth-like environment, analyzing The effect of heating on other minerals is to realize similar characteristics.

There is also a further analysis of this particularly well preserved fulgurite to determine the extent of the physical and chemical processes within it ”.

“All these studies will help to improve our understanding of the importance of fulgurite in changing the chemical environment of the Earth over time” – Professor Piazolo added.