China artwork sets record auction price in HK
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-08 14:36
A gilt-bronze Buddha of the Ming Dynasty Saturday set a record high auction
price of Chinese artworks in the world at Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Sales 2006.
The company said the Yongle Shakyamuni bought for 116.6 million HK dollars
(14.99 million U.S. dollars) by an Asian art collector set a record high of
auction price for Chinese works of arts in the world.
The Yongle Shakyamuni is one of the largest, most opulent bronzes known from
the early Ming period in the early 15th century, and is the single most
important Yongle metal image of the Buddha.
Only two Yongle statues of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni have survived
intact with their separately made thrones. And the one under the hammer Saturday
is one of the two.
Another equally stunning work is a Tianhuang Carving of a Recumbent Lion by
the 17th century master-carver Yang Yuxuan from Zhangpu in Fujian province.
The paperweight in the form of a lion is the largest known work by the carver
with only one comparable example depicting a ram in the Shanghai Museum. The
paperweight also set a record high auction price for Tianhuang stone carving at
39.3 million HK dollars (5.05 million U.S. dollars).
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