I refer to the article Palace's Chinese Vases Valued At €28m (November 30).

The journalist and the curator, Bernadine Scicluna, should be informed that more is known about the three pairs of Chinese vases at the Palace than they think.

An accurate description of them is given in the catalogue entitled Antique Chinese Ceramics from the Magistral Palace of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Rome) and Maltese Collections, which they are invited to consult.

This catalogue was published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name held at Fort St Angelo in July last year.

On that occasion the mentioned vases were exhibited by kind permission of President Eddie Fenech Adami and Heritage Malta, to whom I am grateful.

I totally disagree with the 17th century dating attributed to the large pair depicting scenes from a traditional Chinese love story and confirm that c.1735 (give or take 15 years) is more likely, as mentioned in the catalogue. As for the valuation given, I also feel that one should not venture such prices as €28 million for the pair when a more realistic and appropriate valuation would be in the region of €300,000 for both vases. This for the sake of accuracy.

Editor's note

The China Cultural Centre has clarified (December 1) that the figure mentioned in the article was in fact based on much earlier vases from an official kiln of the imperial court.