Italian-born, London-based art dealer Giuseppe Eskenazi has emerged as the buyer of the world’s most expensive Roman bronze figures.

Eskenazi, who was bidding on behalf of a European private collector paid $28,600,000 at the Sotheby’s auction in New York.

A jubilant Eskenazi is proud that his client got the special figure of Artemis and the stag said: “This is certainly one of the finest, if not the finest, bronze or any sculpture that I have seen in my 50-year career.”

He added: “On the world scale, it is certainly at the top. It is the height of bronze casting; it is of the highest quality, and it is exceptionally refined. It is comparable to any other sculpture of this size and quality in any museum or any private collection anywhere.”