Editor’s Note
The planned auction of ancient Buddhist relics by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong has been postponed following an intervention by the Indian government, which claims the artifacts as part of its national heritage. This development highlights ongoing tensions in the global art market over the ownership and sale of culturally significant items.
One of the few credible discoveries of relics of the Buddha is at the heart of a standoff between India and Sotheby’s. The Hong Kong branch of the auction house postponed a sale of ancient jewels discovered in 1898 in a Buddhist stupa on Wednesday, following opposition from India, which believes they are part of its religious and cultural heritage.
Sotheby’s announced on Wednesday morning that the auction had been postponed. “This will allow for discussions between the parties and we look forward to sharing new information as appropriate,” the auction house said in a statement.
For historians and the Indian government, the relics, which are over two millennia old and were due to be sold on May 7 at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, constitute sacred heritage, not art market commodities.
On its side, the Indian Ministry of Culture wrote on social media X late Tuesday evening that it was to learn this news following its intervention. The ministry had sent a formal notice to Sotheby’s and the seller Chris Peppé, heir to the British colonist William Claxton Peppé who had unearthed them in 1898 on his estate in northern India, according to The Guardian.
The lot of precious stones scheduled for sale on Wednesday, May 7, is estimated at one hundred million Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to over eleven million euros. Among the jewels, part of which were to be sold on May 7, are amethysts, corals, garnets, pearls, rock crystals, shells, and gold. They were originally buried in a dome-shaped funerary monument, called a stupa, at Piprahwa, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, around 240-200 BC, to be mixed with the relics of the Buddha, who died around 480 BC.
Ashley Thompson, a professor specializing in Asian art history at the University of London, told The Guardian. For historians interviewed by the BBC, the relics of the Buddha cannot therefore be treated as works of art to be sold on the market. They agree that they are the heritage of the descendants of Buddhists worldwide.
For its part, the British Crown had claimed the discovery of William Claxton Peppé under the Indian Treasure Trove Act of 1878, which stipulated that treasures discovered in India then reverted to the royal coffers, before the British left India in 1947. According to the English newspaper, most of the 1,800 precious stones discovered by William Claxton Peppé in 1898 were transferred to the Indian Museum in Kolkata. Chris Peppé was allowed to keep about one-fifth.
In a letter published on May 5, 2025 on its Instagram account, the Indian Ministry of Culture had demanded the immediate halt of the auction, stating that the jewel relics “constitute an inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community.” The ministry also indicated that it would launch a public campaign highlighting Sotheby’s “role in perpetuating colonial injustice and its participation in the unethical sale of religious relics.”
The auction house Sotheby’s, for its part, defends itself against any irregularity:
a spokesperson told The Guardian. On Tuesday, May 6, on CNN, Chris Peppé had proposed to donate 25% of the auction proceeds to “Buddhist institutions” and an additional 25% to the exhibition of the main Piprahwa collection in Kolkata. For the moment, no new date has been announced following the postponement of the sale.
