Borobudur made $9 million with its recent auction in Indonesia where a standing-room-only crowd of mostly Indonesian buyers bid with enthusiasm for works by Japanese, Filippino and Indonesian artists:

Japanese pop artist Yoshitomo Nara’s hefty acrylic-on-cotton work of his signature little girl, mounted on fiber-reinforced plastic and standing at a height of 1.8m, went for $1,024,800, double its estimate of $500,000. It was the most expensive artwork to go under the gavel at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

After a round of gasp-inducing bidding, the piece was won by a middle-aged Indonesian man to applause and whistles from the capacity crowd. Dressed in black pants and a white collared shirt, the buyer would only tell Life! that he had bought it for his child. The atmosphere was lively at the auction with 80 per cent of the 323 lots of wine, jewellery and art sold.

Borobudur Art Rakes in Bucks (Jakarta Globe)