Ai Weiwei, the controversial Chinese artist, realized an auction record on Monday when his installation "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" sold for 3.4 million British pounds (about $5.4 million) at a Phillips auction in London, though the selling price came in at the low end of estimates.
A conceptual reconstruction of the animals of the Chinese zodiac that once stood at the palace of Yuanming Yuan but was looted during the 19th century, "Circle of Animals" has traveled around the world, including stops at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and New York's Central Park.