DETROIT (WWJ) - A Detroit auction house sold a bronze statue that spent years in a garage for $930,000, setting a new auction record, experts say.
The auction house DuMouchelles said the statue, which was auctioned on Nov. 21, was stored in a garage in Macomb County for several years after being saved from a dumpster.
DuMouchelles said the 31 inch tall statue is a Buddhist Luohan. According to DuMouchelles press release about the statue, a Luohan is a “revered disciple” of Buddha. “These figures have been central to Chinese art since the Tang dynasty, symbolizing enlightenment and spiritual accomplishment,” DuMouchelles said.
DuMouchelles said the statues are usually made out of ceramic and wood. The use of bronze showed a “significant investment”.
“When this rare bronze was brought in, we knew it was special," DuMouchelles President, Joe Walker, said. "The craftsmanship of the hands and face, its heft, and the fine patina acquired over hundreds of years all pointed to it being a significant early piece.”
The statue shares enough similarities with a statue sold at Christie’s and another statue that is part of the collection at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia to suggest that they were all part of a set that were later split up, experts say.
DuMouchelles said they worked with the Tsz Shan Monastery Museum in Hong Kong to learn about the statue’s provenance, or where it came from. The Tsz Shan Monastery Museum owns a statue that may also be part of the set. There are marks on the robes of both statues that were compared through photographs and showed similarities.
“The story of this remarkable sculpture, now continuing its centuries-long journey in the hands of a new caretaker, serves as another example of the role the company has gratefully fulfilled as stewards of pieces of history,” Robert DuMouchelle, Auctioneer of the Luohan and General Manager of DoMouchelles, said.
The winning bidder was an Asian art gallery that sent representatives to examine the statue and bid in person, DuMouchelles said.