When a rediscovered Rembrandt painting went up for auction on December 6 at Sotheby’s in London, it brought in £10.9 million GBP ($13.7 million USD). The artwork, which goes by the name The Adoration of the Kings (1628), initially surfaced in the 1950s but was unknown to the general public until it was auctioned through Christie’s in Amsterdam in 2021. The pre-auction valuation of the piece, which was previously credited to the artist’s students and often referred to as the “Circle of Rembrandt,” was between $10,000 and $15,000 USD. This was the case with the sale two years ago.

The picture, which is mostly monochrome, shows the Three Wise Men meeting baby Jesus in the biblical story. A Sotheby’s representative told CNN that despite the painting’s small size (roughly 9.6 x 7.2 inches), it is “particularly significant” because it adds to our understanding of the Dutch master at a pivotal point in his career when he was “clearly very ambitious and developing very quickly as an artist.”

“This painting, which is a stunning achievement and a testament to both his ambition and his genius with the brush, was created by an artist who is as famous for his production of etchings and drawings in monochrome as for his paintings in color,” Sotheby’s noted.

First recorded in an inventory from an Amsterdam collector in 1714, The Adoration of the Kings (1628) was sold multiple times more than a century later. After a 70-year break, the picture was rediscovered in 1955 thanks to the German collector J.C.H. Heldring’s catalog. Heldring’s successor had sold the artwork to Christie’s just before she passed away.