History Main / PricelessMingVase

* ''Series/MoonKnight'': Subverted when Steven manages to catch the vase he toppled at the museum... only for the sound of him catching it to [[SoMuchForStealth alert]] the creature stalking him.

* The ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "Back And Back To The Future" involves a time loop. Each time, Crichton goes into Zhaan's room and talks to her, picking up a delicate mask on a display shelf, then as he's playing with it he ends up dropping it and causing it to shatter, to Zhaan's distress. However, on the final loop, since Crichton has figured out what's going on, he instead [[SubvertedTrope carefully sets the mask down]] before [[DoubleSubversion deliberately stomping on it]].

* One episode of ''Series/Chucklevision'' has the Chuckle Brothers tasked with protecting such a vase. Surprisingly, the vase actually survives the events of the episode, and instead, the ending of the episode involves it getting put into a cloning machine, and Paul and Barry find themselves having to smash all the cloned vases in order to preserve the vase’s uniqueness, as it’s meant to be the only one of it’s kind in the world.

* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. The title character is fighting a ClassyCatBurglar but is still getting the hang of her wonderful toys. She fails to catch a batarang on its return and it smashes a vase once owned by Marie Antoinette.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "If-Then-Else", the Machine is running simulations to find out a way for our heroes to escape the predicament they are in. When a valuable painting gets damaged by stray gunfire in every simulation, the Machine gets Root to move the picture so it won't be damaged in reality.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''

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* ''Fanfic/ADifferentLesson'': The canonical breaking of the Urn of Whispering Warriors, mentioned in the "Films -- Animation" section, is brought up early in the fic, causing Tai Lung to wonder in horror if he accidentally broke it during his fight with Shifu before Po defeated him; after learning the truth, he has to be calmed down by Po reciting its legend and reassuring him that it's being repaired. Indeed, it's later seen having been glued back together, [[spoiler:and Mantis, at [[DeadPersonConversation Oogway's advice]] following his DisneyDeath, [[ChekovsGun brings it along with him]] to unleash the [[ChekovsArmy Warriors of Tenshu]] contained within against the BigBad's summoned horde of ''yaoguai''. Things only get even more intense from there, but for ''once'', this trope is averted with said urn when after the collapse of the Vault of Heroes where the villain was imprisoned, it is shown to have made it out completely intact]].

** In the same episode, Bernard and Manny wind up drinking a priceless bottle of wine and spend much of the remainder of the episode trying to augment a cheap bottle of wine to replace it. [[spoiler: Said wine ends up ''killing the Pope'', but when Bernard sees the headline he only notices the date on the paper - it's his birthday!]]

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has "Operation: B.R.E.A.K.U.P." centered around this trope, starting with Numbuh 4 breaking many copies of his mother's vase with his antics and told to make sure the last vase stays intact or else be sent to [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment ballroom dancing school]]. This results in him getting to a place where kids make a game out of destroying their parents' priceless objects, thwarting a bully's plan, and ensuring the vase stays in one piece [[spoiler: [[ShaggyDogStory until the end credits]]]].

** One cutaway has a literal bull in a china shop, but it rather carefully and delicately looking at the wares. However Peter and the guys play golf nearby and one of Peter's hard shots smashes through the shop window and bounces into numerous expensive ornaments, leading the shop owner to enter the room and find the bull next to his ruined goods.

** While attempting to find out if the world really has stopped having sound, Timmy causes a domino effect in his living room which destroys a Fabergé Egg, a Ming vase, the Venus de Milo, and ''The Holy Grail''. With the world being silent, though, his parents are unable to yell at him.

[[caption-width-right:350:{{Timber}}]]

** In ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', Bond and the first [[TheDragon dragon]] of the film, Chang, are fighting in a Venice glass museum where they smash just about everything in the exhibition. At one point during the fight Bond picks up an item, hears the alarm that reminds him that it's "priceless," and carefully replaces it; seconds later, Chang smashes it.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'': The Fey clan's greatest treasure is the Sacred Urn, said to house the soul of the clan's founder. It gets broken and put back together again at least three times over the course of ''Justice for All'' and ''Trials and Tribulations''. At the very end, a picture is shown of a very young Maya and Mia restoring the vase, implying that it happened a lot before.

* ''Film/MeetTheParents'': The urn carrying De Niro's mother and the gazebo Owen Wilson built.

* ''Film/{{Duplex}}'': Creator/BenStiller's computer containing his finished novel.

'''Blanche:''' I'd rather you shot Lester!\\

* An extremely unlucky man named Nick Flynn [[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/feb/06/arts.artsnews1 visited the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge in 2006]]. During the course of his visit he tripped on his untied shoelace and fell down a flight of stairs, at the bottom of which was a rare vase from the Qing dynasty. The vase not only fell over and shattered but also knocked over and broke two ''more'' Qing dynasty vases that were next to it. The combined loss was estimated at over £100,000. Mr Flynn attributed his mishap to a "[[{{Slapstick}} Norman Wisdom moment]]". Thankfully, the vases were completely covered by insurance and were later restored; they are now in a protective case.

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': Breaking the Queen's pottery at her mansion is what first alerts the Swatchlings to the three heroes' presence. From then on, they're a recurring enemy.

If the item contained cremation ashes, see AshesToCrashes. For the automotive version, see WatchThePaintJob.

* In ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'', while heading to Dr. Doyle's lab, Ann knocks a vase over at the [[WeBuyAnything sell shop]]. The owner chides Ann that she'll have to pay full price for it at a later time.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', you can't progress in the game until you have "accidentally" broken a priceless vase on top of a question mark block. You then have to pay a million rubies to make up for it. The villain who tricked you into breaking the vase never actually expected you to be able to pay off the debt. If you scan it beforehand, Tippi will say it's worth only 100 coins at the most.
* In [[ClassyCatBurglar Kasumi's]] loyalty mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', a renegade interrupt gives you the chance to introduce one of Donovan Hock's priceless vases to a round from one your guns. It could class as a type of InterrogationByVandalism, with the wrinkle that your primary motivation is to get him to ''stop'' talking at you.
* In ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'', as Panda King and Guru are burrowing through Tsao's palace, Sly has to prevent all the vases in the area from tipping over to prevent the alarm from going off.
* In the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' games, the Fey clan's greatest treasure is the Sacred Urn, said to house the soul of the clan's founder. It gets broken and put back together again at least three times over the course of ''Justice for All'' and ''Trials and Tribulations''. At the very end, a picture is shown of a very young Maya and Mia restoring the vase, implying that it happened a lot before.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'', if you find one in a crate, you can break a Priceless Ming Vase... the pieces of which then [[MadeOfExplodium blow up]]. Like everything else in the game.

** In ''VideoGame/TheWindWaker'', Link can break some of these, but if he breaks too many, he has to pay 10 rupees each.
** A sidequest in ''VideoGame/SpiritTracks'' has Link bring an incredibly fragile vessel to Steem so he may decorate his sanctuary. The slightest hit from an enemy attack or reckless actions on the rails will smash it to pieces. Even when Steem has the vessel safe and sound ... it ''isn't.'' Don't even think about whacking it with a sword.
* In ''VideoGame/ColossalCaveAdventure'', one of the cave treasures is a delicate Ming vase. If you put it down, "the vase drops with a delicate crash" and the item is destroyed (leaving worthless fragments behind). One of the game's many puzzles is figuring out how to collect it safely.
* In the parody ''Very Big Cave Adventure'', if the savvy player attempts to do the correct solution from ''Colossal Cave'', [[spoiler:the pillow eats the vase and laughs at them]].

** Lampshaded in the Jughead story "Ming Madness", when told that a certain vase is a Ming by Veronica, Archie goes into a tirade to Jughead on how Cliché'd the whole concept is, almost breaking it several times. At the end of the story, Mr. Lodge comes in and says that the vase is ''not'' a Ming but dates back to the Manchu dynasty, and thus vastly more expensive. Cue Archie fainting.

* ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'': Roddy accidentally destroys Toad's entire collection of cheap Buckingham Palace gift shop knick-knacks... I mean, priceless royal family memorabilia.

* Dean Hardscrabble's scream can -- her one souvenir of a lifetime of scaring -- in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity''. Its destruction is what gets Mike and Sulley kicked out of the scare program, or rather, speeds up their inevitable expulsion.

* In ''Film/TheNakedGun'' Vincent Ludwig shows Lt. Drebin the many rare and valuable items in his apartment, including a rare Japanese fish, a pen given to him by Emperor Hirohito, his collection of vases, and Gainsborough's famous ''Blue Boy'' portrait. Naturally they all get destroyed.

* In ''Film/{{Borat}}'', Borat visits an antique store that happens to hold a lot of glass collectibles, many with obviously racist motifs. Borat asks to inspect them, and sure enough, several items wind up "accidentally" knocked over and smashed.

** Bruce is waving around nunchucks in a dojo and ends up breaking the OldMaster's expensive vase. The master throws Bruce out of his class, telling him to keep the chucks so he can practice with them... in the closet!

* In the China episode of ''Series/KickinIt'', Rudy continually bumbled into the priceless artifacts that were ([[FridgeLogic logic-defyingly]]) on display in a room where ''a martial arts tournament was being held''. Somebody at Creator/DisneyXD must really love this trope.

* [[Series/SesameStreet Monsterpiece Theater]]'s "Cyranose de Bergerac" ends with the title character chasing the Queen of France around and knocking two presumably very valuable vases down to their doom with his very long nose-and briefly pausing to apologize for doing so. Then he chases Alistair Cookie around and does the same to the priceless porcelain.

* In the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' games, the Fey clan's greatest treasure is the Sacred Urn, said to house the soul of the clan's founder. It gets broken and put back together again at least three times over the course of ''Justice for All'' and ''Trials and Tribulations''.
** At the very end, a picture is shown of a very young Maya and Mia restoring the vase, implying that it happened a lot before.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', Link can break some of these, but if he breaks too many, he has to pay 10 rupees each.
* A sidequest in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' has Link bring an incredibly fragile vessel to Steem so he may decorate his sanctuary. The slightest hit from an enemy attack or reckless actions on the rails will smash it to pieces. Even when Steem has the vessel safe and sound ... it ''isn't.'' Don't even think about whacking it with a sword.
* In ''[[VideoGame/ColossalCave Colossal Cave Adventure]]'', one of the cave treasures is a delicate Ming vase. If you put it down, "the vase drops with a delicate crash" and the item is destroyed (leaving worthless fragments behind). One of the game's many puzzles is figuring out how to collect it safely.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':

* ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'': During Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer's number, the lyrics tell you that they're the ones responsible for breaking, among other things, "a vase which was commonly said to be Ming."

** In ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', Bond overheard a conversation between some mooks talking about a satellite standing in the middle of a room, which was explicitly stated to be worth ''300 millions''. Naturally that was the ''first'' thing he broke when he was escaping from said mooks.

* In Stephen Manes' ''Chicken Trek'' the RoadTripPlot is kicked off by Oscar's having dropped and broken his inventor cousin's one-of-a-kind camera, which cost "forty-nine thousand, four hundred sixty-two dollars and thirty-seven cents".

** In the episode "Busted", Bloo breaks a bust of Madame Foster while roughhousing. His attempts to fix it just makes things worse. At one point, he actually has Madame Foster herself pose as the bust after covering her in flour. Mr. Herriman finds out about this, and it looks like Bloo is going to be evicted like Herriman threatened earlier, but then he laughs, saying that the bust gets knocked over and broken so many times that Madame Foster had several dozen copies made, which he keeps in a closet, just in case.

** In "Blackout", Bodie brags about his accurate and expensive Heuer Manhattan watch, only to end up breaking it while smashing down a door to rescue a hostage. He broke his arm too, but was more angry about the watch. At the end of the episode however, he's happy to hear the lads at [=CI5=] (even Cowley!) have all chipped in to buy him a new watch. It turns out to be a cheap ''Superman'' watch.
** At the start of "The Acorn Syndrome", Cowley sends Bodie and Doyle to pick up an antique desk worth 800 pounds. After strapping it to the roof of their car, they get into a car chase and the desk comes loose and smashes all over the road.