Just hours before a rare set of Buddhist relics was scheduled to go under the hammer in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s announced it has postponed the sale, following objections from the Indian government.
“In light of the matters raised by the Government of India and with the agreement of the consignors, the auction of the Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha, scheduled for 7th May, has been postponed,” Sotheby’s said in a statement. “This will allow for discussions between the parties, and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate.”
The decision came after India’s Ministry of Culture formally demanded the auction house cancel the sale, citing violations of both domestic cultural heritage laws and international conventions, including the UNESCO 1970 Convention. Legal notices were issued to Sotheby’s Hong Kong and to the consignor – the Peppé family, descendants of the British estate manager who led the original excavation in the late 19th century.
The lot, known as the Piprahwa Gems, includes more than 300 artifacts believed to have been buried alongside the remains of the historical Buddha over 2,000 years ago. Discovered in northern India in 1898, the relics have since been exhibited at major museums across Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Lot 1 | The Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha | Property from the descendants of William Claxton Peppé
Mauryan Empire, Ashokan era, circa 240-200 BC
Central Case: 45 x 16 x 36.9 cm
Left and Right Cases: 14.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm
Provenance:
- Recovered in 1898 at the Piprahwa Stupa (present-day Basti district, Uttar Pradesh), Northern India, by the English estate manager and engineer William Claxton Peppé (1852-1936), and thence by descent
Estimate Upon Request
Auction House: Sotheby's Hong Kong
Sale: The Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha
Date: 7 May 2025 | Postponed until further notice
The gem relics were uncovered by William Claxton Peppé in 1898 at Piprahwa, a site in northern India near the Nepalese border. Beneath a large stupa, Peppé unearthed a massive stone coffer containing five reliquary urns filled with bone fragments and approximately 1,800 ritual objects – including gemstones, pearls, shells, silver, and gold. One urn bore an inscription identifying the contents as relics of the Buddha, deposited by members of the Sakya clan, to which the Buddha belonged.
At the time, India was under British colonial rule, and the question of ownership proved diplomatically sensitive. To avoid religious and political controversy, Peppé sought the counsel of King Rama V of Siam (modern-day Thailand), then the world’s only reigning Buddhist monarch. With British approval, the bone relics were presented as a gift to the Siamese king, who later distributed them to major Buddhist temples across Asia.
The accompanying 1,800 gem relics were mostly transferred to the Indian Museum in Kolkata. However, approximately 300 items – described at the time as “duplicates” – were permitted to remain in Peppé's possession and passed down through his family for generations before being consigned to Sotheby’s for auction.
A present-day view of the Piprahwa Stupa
Left: King Rama V of Siam; Right: William Claxton Peppé
One of the reliquary urns, inscribed in ancient Pali script, identifies the relics as belonging to the Buddha
India’s Ministry of Culture maintains that the gem relics are sacred offerings originally interred with the Buddha’s remains – not “duplicates” or “specimens” – and should be regarded as part of his sacred body. They, the ministry argues, “constitute an inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community,” and as such, must not be commodified.
The Indian government asserts that all artifacts excavated from the Piprahwa stupa are considered state property under Indian law and classified as “AA” antiquities, meaning they are protected from sale or export. Though Peppé was granted temporary custodianship during the colonial period, the Ministry of Culture insists this did not confer ownership rights. “It is a legal principle,” the statement reads, “that custodianship does not grant any right to alienate or misappropriate the asset.”
India's Ministry of Culture shares the legal notice on X
A selection of gem relics found within one of the reliquary urns
The ministry also cited multiple international conventions it believes the sale would violate, including:
- UNESCO 1970 Convention, which bars the export of cultural property without government authorization;
- UNIDROIT Convention (1995), which requires the return of illegally exported items;
- Hague Convention (1954), Second Protocol (1999), which grants enhanced protection to sacred and culturally significant artifacts.
In its demand to Sotheby’s and the Peppé family, the Ministry outlined four specific requirements: an immediate halt to the auction, cooperation in returning the relics, a public apology, and full disclosure of provenance records. As of now, Sotheby’s has not indicated a new date for the sale or whether the items will be withdrawn.
According to ancient Buddhist scriptures, following the Buddha’s cremation, eight kingdoms vied for possession of his corporeal relics. Their rulers – each commanding armies – gathered at the site of the Buddha’s parinirvana, prepared to go to war if necessary. Before conflict erupted, a Brahmin named Drona intervened and persuaded the kings to divide the relics into eight equal portions, allowing each kingdom to enshrine them in stupas for veneration.
One of the eight recipients was Kapilavastu, the homeland of the Shakya clan – the Buddha’s own people. The relics excavated by Peppé at Piprahwa, near the India-Nepal border, are believed by many scholars to be the very portion brought back by the Shakyas to honor the Enlightened One in their ancestral capital.
Roughly two centuries later, during the reign of Ashoka the Great, India entered a golden age of unity under the Mauryan Empire. A devout Buddhist, Ashoka sought to spread the Buddha’s teachings across Asia. As part of this mission, he ordered the redistribution of the original relics, excavating the stupas built by the eight kingdoms and dividing the remains into tens of thousands of portions – many of which were sent as far afield as Sri Lanka, Central Asia, and China.
Ashoka also renovated and expanded the original stupas, transforming them into monumental pilgrimage sites. Archaeologists believe the Piprahwa stupa was one such expansion, as further diggings in the 1970s revealed additional brick structures beneath the coffer. The gems buried alongside the bone relics are thought to date to this period, with their craftsmanship closely matching artifacts found at other major Buddhist sites from the Mauryan Empire.
An aerial view of the Piprahwa Stupa
The stone coffer unearthed during excavations at the Piprahwa Stupa
The gem relics on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Over the years, these sacred objects have been displayed at some of the world's most esteemed institutions, including the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, and the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.
In Buddhist tradition, corporeal relics are unlike ordinary cremains. Rather than appearing ash-gray, they are often described as vividly colored – blue, yellow, red, white, black, or even multicolored. Their shapes are equally varied, ranging from geometric forms to floral patterns and other intricate designs.
Some scholars believe the gems symbolize the bone relics, with their colors representing different parts of the Buddha’s body. Others argue that they were high-status funerary offerings, meant to distinguish saints and enlightened monks from ordinary individuals.