AN “INCREDIBLY rare” Italian dish from a Borders mansion has been sold for more than £1 million at auction.

The contents of Lowood House, near Melrose, went under the hammer on Wednesday (October 6).

Among the items was an unrecorded Italian dish attributed to Nicola da Urbino - with an estimated price of between £80,000-120,000.

However, £1,263,000 – including buyer’s premium – is what it took to win the maiolica work.

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Lyon & Turnbull managing director, Gavin Strang, said: “As the auctioneer, it was a real joy to bring the hammer down at over £1 million on this incredibly rare dish – a new world record price [for this type of dish] I believe.

“The whole story of its discovery tucked away in a drawer, through the meticulous research carried out by our specialists, and then fierce international bidding on auction day has been exciting from beginning to end.”

The dish was found in a drawer by Lyon & Turnbull’s European ceramics specialists when preparations for the 400+ lot auction began.

It measures close to 27cm and is thought to have been made around 1520-23.

The total selling rate for the contents of Lowood House was £2.2million, according to a Lyon & Turnbull spokesperson.