A sensational flea market discovery from Uppsala took center stage during an intense round of international bidding on Thursday. The statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, which had lived a quiet life in a private Swedish home, sold for a final price of SEK 2,437,500 at The Asian Fine Art Sale.

A rare Buddha figure from the Yongle period (1403–1424) became the major highlight of Stockholms Auktionsverk’s The Asian Fine Art Sale. The sculpture, purchased by the seller at a flea market in Uppsala for just over SEK 20 in the 1980s, turned out to be a superb example of early Ming aesthetics and a work of the same type found in leading international collections.

The figure, just over 18 centimeters tall and cast in gilt bronze, depicts Shakyamuni Buddha in one of the most central motifs of Buddhist iconography. The garment’s refined drapery, the finely chiseled details, and the unusually rich gilding place the piece among a small group of masterfully executed sculptures from the imperial Ming workshop.

The unexpected provenance and exceptional quality of the find drew strong international interest during today’s auction. Comparable works have previously been sold at leading auction houses and are represented in institutions such as the British Museum.

“It is absolutely extraordinary—and highly unusual—for a work of this quality to appear in private hands in Sweden. The sculpture is an outstanding example of 15th-century Buddhist metalwork, and it is wonderful to see it reclaim its rightful place in cultural history,” says Elisabet Fellbom, Specialist in Asian Art and Craft at Stockholms Auktionsverk.