Latest news with #Sothebys
Reuters
8 minutes ago
- Business
- Reuters
Buddhist gems return to India after 127 years
HONG KONG, July 31 (Reuters) - A collection of hundreds of jewels linked to Buddha's corporeal relics has returned to India after 127 years following an auction planned for earlier this year that drew threats of legal action from the government in Delhi. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hailed the return of the collection, known as the Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha Mauryan Empire, Ashokan Era, circa 240-200 BCE. "A joyous day for our cultural heritage!" Modi wrote in a post on X. "It would make every Indian proud." The collection was originally scheduled to be auctioned by Sotheby's in Hong Kong in May but the sale was postponed after India's government threatened legal action and demanded the jewels be returned. Sotheby's subsequently identified a buyer and secured a sale that saw the permanent return of the gems to India, where they would be placed on public display. "Sotheby's is delighted to have facilitated the return of the Piprahwa Gems to India," the auction house said in a statement late on Wednesday. "This completes our active search over the past two months to identify the best possible custodian for the gems," it added, without disclosing the name of the buyer. The gems were unearthed in 1898 from an ancient stupa in Piprahwa, northern India, by English estate manager William Claxton Peppe. Peppe was later allowed to keep more than 300 duplicate gems, which remained in his family.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Business
- The Guardian
‘A joyous day': India celebrates return of ancient gems linked to the Buddha
The Indian government has secured the repatriation of ancient gem relics linked to the Buddha's remains, two months after it halted their auction in Hong Kong. In a post on X, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said the return of the Piprahwa gems after 127 years was 'a joyous day for our cultural heritage'. Sotheby's postponed the sale of the gems in May after the Indian culture ministry threatened to take legal action against the auction house in Indian and Hong Kong courts and through international bodies 'for violations of cultural heritage laws'. Many Buddhists believe the gems are imbued with the presence of the Buddha and should be treated as corporeal remains. The ministry said the precious artefacts would be formally unveiled during a special ceremony and placed on public display. The purchase of the gems was secured through a public-private partnership between the Indian government and Godrej Industries Group, it added. Modi wrote: 'It would make every Indian proud that the sacred Piprahwa relics of Bhagwan Buddha have come home after 127 long years. These sacred relics highlight India's close association with Bhagwan Buddha and his noble teachings. It also illustrates our commitment to preserving and protecting different aspects of our glorious culture.' The gems were sold by three descendants of William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial landowner who in 1898 excavated the gems on his estate in northern India. Their decision to auction the gems was met with an international outcry from Buddhist leaders, academics and devotees. The 334 precious stones, which were expected to sell at auction for about HK$100m (£9.7m), include amethysts, coral, garnets, pearls, rock crystals, shells and gold, either worked into pendants, beads and other ornaments or in their natural form. The gems were originally buried in a dome-shaped funerary monument called a stupa in Piprahwa, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, in about 240-200BC when they were mixed with some of the cremated remains of the Buddha, who died in approximately 480BC. The British crown claimed Peppé's find under the 1878 Indian Treasure Trove Act, with the bones and ash presented to the Buddhist monarch King Chulalongkorn of Siam. Most of the 1,800 gems went to the Indian Museum in Kolkata, while Peppé was permitted to retain approximately a fifth of them. In a statement, Sotheby's said it was delighted to have facilitated the historic return of the gems to India. 'This completes our active search over the past two months to identify the best possible custodian for the gems. Today is the culmination of our close collaboration with the Peppé family, the buyer and the government of India to conclude this sale, which sees the permanent return of the Piprahwa gems to India where they will be on public display for years to come,' it said. Pirojsha Godrej, the executive vice-chair of Godrej Industries Group, said: 'We are deeply honoured to contribute to this historic moment. The Piprahwa gems are not just artefacts, they are timeless symbols of peace, compassion and the shared heritage of humanity.' Chris Peppé, grandson of William Claxton Peppé who excavated the gems on his colonial estate, said his family shared Modi's excitement at the repatriation of the gems. 'We are happy that the true significance of the Piprahwa discovery has finally received the public recognition it always deserved and that the gems will be available for the public to see,' he said.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Ancient Buddhist gems returned to India after their Hong Kong auction stopped
India has recovered a set of relics linked to early Buddhism more than a century after they were removed from the country during the British colonial period, officials said on Wednesday. The Piprahwa gems date back to around the third century BC and were unearthed in 1898 by Englishman William Claxton Peppe in northern India. India's culture ministry said it secured the return of the gems, which had been slated for auction in Hong Kong in May, in partnership with Mumbai-based conglomerate Godrej Industries Group. 'These relics have long held immense spiritual value for the global Buddhist community and represent one of the most important archaeological discoveries in India's history,' the ministry said in a statement. The Piprahwa gems were scheduled to be auctioned by Sotheby's in Hong Kong in May. Photo: Sotheby's The gems will be put on public display soon, it added, without giving further details.
France 24
13 hours ago
- Business
- France 24
India secures return of ancient Buddhist gems
The Piprahwa gems date back to around the third century BC and were unearthed in 1898 by Englishman William Claxton Peppe in northern India. India's culture ministry said it secured the return of the gems, which had been slated for auction in Hong Kong in May, in partnership with Mumbai-based conglomerate Godrej Industries Group. "These relics have long held immense spiritual value for the global Buddhist community and represent one of the most important archaeological discoveries in India's history," the ministry said in a statement. The gems will be put on public display soon, it added, without giving further details. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the recovery as a "joyous" occasion for India's cultural heritage. "It may be recalled that the Piprahwa relics were discovered in 1898 but were taken away from India during the colonial period," he said in a post on social media. "When they appeared in an international auction earlier this year, we worked to ensure they returned home," he added. "I appreciate all those who have been involved in this effort." In May, the culture ministry issued a legal notice to Sotheby's, the auction house that had organised the sale of the gems, demanding it be cancelled and the relics returned to India. The ministry also called for an apology and full disclosure of provenance documents. Sotheby's postponed the auction in response. The auction house said in a statement Wednesday that it was "delighted to have facilitated the return of the Piprahwa Gems to India". "Sotheby's is thrilled to have played such a central role in securing this historic outcome," it added. The gems were excavated at the Piprahwa village near the Buddha's birthplace and have been attributed to a clan linked to the religious figure. "This is one of the most significant instances of repatriation of our lost heritage," culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said.
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Don't know how much your art is really worth? You're not alone
Depending on your perspective, the verdict delivered by art services and technology company Winston Artory Group was either very good or very bad. A print that had recently been appraised for US$1 million was, the company determined earlier this month, now worth just US$300,000 – a 70 per cent decline in possible value. These were happy tidings for the insurance company that requested the appraisal, and potentially devastating for the print's owner. 'The insurance company loved it,' says Winston Artory's co-executive chairman Elizabeth von Habsburg. 'The client, maybe not so much.' Art is not easy to value. Unlike soya beans or gold, whose prices might shift but whose inherent qualities are immutable (one soya bean is functionally the same as any other soya bean), every artwork is different, and therefore must be considered on its own merits. Making valuation even harder is the fact that a huge chunk of the art market's transactions are conducted privately, meaning that variations in price are often impossible to discern unless the world is explicitly told a sale has taken place. (Even then, the exact price is often suspect.) Mark Rothko's Untitled (Yellow and Blue) sold for HK$252.5 million (US$32.4 million) at Sotheby's Hong Kong in November 2024, making it the third most valuable work by a Western artist to be sold in Asia. Photo: courtesy of Sotheby's During a boom market, when auction results set records and art fair reports include hundreds of sales, information about price fluctuations is relatively accessible. But in recent years, as the market has deflated, publicly reported sales have thinned out and value – good or bad – has become increasingly difficult to determine. To find out more about the valuation process and the state of the art market today, we sat down with Habsburg and and her co-executive chairman, Nanne Dekking, founder of Artory, the art market data and technology company that recently merged with art appraiser and adviser Winston Art Group. We were joined by Winston Artory president Peter Loukas at the firm's Midtown headquarters in New York. Everyone says the market's down. Based on all your internal data, how bad is it really? Elizabeth von Habsburg: The market's tough, there's no question about it. You see it with the dealers that are going out of business or deciding not to continue. I'm seeing things that would've sold three years ago just not selling – even with a more reasonable reserve at auction. It's hard.
