Roman statue sets a record

A 2,000-year-old Roman bronze of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, brought $28.6 million Thursday at Sotheby’s in New York, becoming both the most expensive antiquity and piece of sculpture from any period to sell at auction.

The heroic yet graceful 36-inch figure, clad in gladiator sandals and a billowing dress, quadrupled its $7 million presale high estimate. Private London dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi won the bidding for an unnamed European collector.

The Artemis price edged the previous sculpture record of $27.5 million paid in May 2005 for Brancusi’s “Bird in Space” at Christie’s in New York. It more than doubled the previous antiquities record, held by a Roman marble statue of Venus that sold for $11.6 million at Christie’s in London in 2002.

The sculpture was among the most significant of 207 artworks and objects being sold by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y.