After its accidental discovery in 1919 in Hunan, its lid remained in China but the body was sold to collectors overseas, and set a world-record auction price for an Asian art work in 2001 when it fetched US $9.24 million.

On the inside of its lid, a repeat of the inscription has two extra characters, the first of which being ambiguous, naming the vessel's maker as "Min Er [or Tian] Quan" (皿而[or 天]全).

[2] The Min fanglei was accidentally discovered in 1919 in Maoshanyu, Shuitian Township (now Jiaqiao Town), Taoyuan County, Hunan Province.

[2] After the Ta Kung Pao in Changsha reported the discovery of the artifact on June 11, 1925, Zhang Shizhao, the provincial education director, attempted to retrieve the vessel but was unable to locate it.

On March 19, a day before the auction was scheduled to take place, Christie's announced that the owner had agreed to sell the vessel to a group of private Chinese collectors, who then donated it to Hunan Museum to be reunited with its lid, from which it had been separated for 90 years.