The Zodiac Sculpture That Set Ai Weiwei's Auction Record

Ai Weiwei's Circle Of Animals / Zodiac Heads (2010) in bronze sold for $5.41m (£3.44m) at Phillips in London on June 29, 2015.

The work is number one from an edition of six plus two artist’s proofs. It had not been traded before. The artist has also made an edition in plated in gold on a smaller scale.

This example was first shown at the Sao Paulo Biennale in 2010 and then traveled to Los Angeles and Washington, DC where it was shown at LACMA and the Hirshhorn respectively.

Ai based his work on a series of 18th-century sculptures that belonged to the Emperor Qianlong’s Garden of Perfect Brightness in the palace of Yuanming Yuan. The zodiac heads, which sat on human bodies, formed part of a decorative clock fountain, that was looted by British and French troops in 1860 when the summer palace was ransacked.

The zodiac sculptures were in the news in 2009 when two of the originals that belonged to Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé went on sale at Christie's in Paris. A Chinese buyer bid $28m but refused to pay up.

They were later acquired by François Pinault, the owner of Christie's, who in 2013 donated them to China.

As well as their back story, Ai also liked the idea that his take on the zodiac heads can be seen around the world. "Before, only a pope or an emperor could see these kinds of things. Now you can see them in a public garden," he said.

The sale beat the artist's previous auction record by $972,000, a 21% rise. The previous record was set by another edition of Circle Of Animals / Zodiac Heads (2010), which sold for $4.44m also at Phillips on February 12, 2015.

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