By Graham Smith Last updated at 10:01 PM on 12th December 2011 Sold: The Roman statue - which depicts Leda and the Swan - has been kept at Aske Hall in North Yorkshire for 300 years and fetched £12.2million at auction A statue left languishing as ‘just part of the furniture’ by its owners has been sold at auction for £12.2million. The 4ft 5in marble depiction of Leda and the Swan had been in the family of the Marquess of Zetland for more than 200 years – and may even have spent some time as a garden ornament. But no one thought to have it valued until it was spotted by an antiquities specialist at the family seat of Aske Hall, North Yorkshire.
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The Marquess Of Zetland only found out the sculpture - which depicts Leda and the Swan - dated back to the 2nd Century
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It sold for ten times its estimate of £1.2million at Sotheby's in New York
A source at the hall said: 'The family knew it was old and that it was @placeholder but they had no idea of its true value.'