A gilt-bronze Buddha of the Ming Dynasty Saturday set a record high auction price of Chinese artworks in the world at Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Sales 2006.

The company said the Yongle Shakyamuni bought for HK$116.6 million (US$14.99 million) by an Asian art collector set a record high of auction price for Chinese works of arts in the world.

The Yongle Shakyamuni is one of the largest, most opulent bronzes known from the early Ming period in the early 15th century, and is the single most important Yongle metal image of the Buddha.

Only two Yongle statues of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni have survived intact with their separately made thrones. And the one under the hammer Saturday is one of the two.

Another equally stunning work is a Tianhuang Carving of a Recumbent Lion by the 17th century master-carver Yang Yuxuan from Zhangpu in Fujian province.

The paperweight in the form of a lion is the largest known work by the carver with only one comparable example depicting a ram in the Shanghai Museum. The paperweight also set a record high auction price for Tianhuang stone carving at HK$39.3 million (US$5.05 million).

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)