A porcelain masterpiece from Chinese Emperor Qianlong's imperial collection will go under the hammer in Hong Kong for a fall sale, announced the auction house Sotheby's on Friday.

The 16-inch antique is said to be the matching pair to another Chinese vase, which was sold for an astonishing £43 million ($55.25 million) at the Bainbridge auction house in 2010.

The two vases reportedly feature almost the same openwork design, with only a slight difference in the fish patterns carved and painted on them.

Said to be once displayed at an exhibition in New York in 1905, the rare piece was purchased by a Japanese collector in 1924, and remained a private collection for almost a century.

The vase will reportedly lead the Sotheby's upcoming fall auction in Hong Kong, but further details have yet to be released.