BOONTON, N.J. — A round of applause burst from the gallery audience seated at Millea Bros. an hour into its May 13 auction (the final day of its three-day spring sale) when a scroll painting rolled past its $1,5/2,500 estimate to attain $528,000, including the 20 percent buyer’s premium.

The painting catalogued as in “manner of Mou Yi, Song Dynasty, Court Ladies travelling in spring” came from the estate of Boris Lovet-Lorski and had five or six phones, mostly Asian bidders, chasing the lot.

From about the $100,000 mark, however, it was down to two determined phone bidders with one hanging on to the very end.

Afterwards, Mark Millea said he was surprised but as there was much presale interest, he expected he would be surprised. “You just have no idea…We kind of have a sense but we trust we get the word out,” he said, noting as generalists rather than Asian arts experts, they aimed to market this lot well and let the buyers determine value.

A complete report on the auction will appear in an upcoming edition.