The sculpture, just over 18 centimeters tall and cast in gilded bronze, depicts Shakyamuni Buddha in one of the most central motifs in Buddhist iconography, according to Stockholm Auction House.
It was made during the Ming Dynasty's third emperor, Zhu Di, the so-called Yongle period (1403–1424), and is, according to the auction house, a "high-class example of early Ming aesthetics."
"It is absolutely fantastic – and very unusual – that a work of this quality appears in private ownership in Sweden," says Elisabet Fellbom, specialist in Asian art and crafts at Stockholm Auction House, in a press release.
