Stockholms Auktionsverk sold a 15‑century gilt‑bronze Shakyamuni Buddha for SEK 2,437,500 on December 11, 2025, after experts confirmed it was a rare Yongle‑era piece from the Ming dynasty.
The statue, 18 cm tall, was unearthed at a Uppsala flea market in the 1980s and bought by a private collector for just over SEK 20, its provenance obscured for four decades.
Experts noted the crisp folds of the robes, fine chiselling and rich gilding—hallmarks of imperial Ming workshops—placing it among a handful of comparable works in major collections.
Elisabet Fellbom, a specialist in Asian art at Stockholms Auktionsverk, praised the sculpture as “a remarkable example of early Ming metalwork” and said its appearance at a Swedish auction underscores the global reach of Ming art.
The record sale will be catalogued in international auction databases and is expected to spark interest from institutions such as the British Museum, potentially leading to future acquisitions.