The art market is feeling under pressure from the outside world.

With the art-fair season underway, it is uncertain how events like the latest terrorist attacks will affect Art Brussels and Independent Brussels, which are scheduled to open in the Belgian capital during the third week of April. And the top end of the market is struggling with a downturn as a volatile global economy makes wealthy collectors hesitant to buy and sell.

But there is one area of collecting that is still capable of setting exceptional prices, seemingly regardless of where it is being sold or what is happening in the world: historic Chinese art.

In France on March 12, a trio of Ming dynasty gilt-bronze statues of seated Buddhas sold for 6.3 million euros with fees, about $7 million, at the Bordeaux auctioneers Briscadieu to one of 20 Asian bidders in the sales room. The 15th-century statues were estimated at €400,000 to €600,000. The statues, thought to be from an original set of five “Great Buddhas of Wisdom” from a provincial temple in China, were part of a collection formed by an military doctor in Asia in the early 20th century.

“It was an incredible price,” the auctioneer, Antoine Briscadieu, said of the result, the highest price ever achieved at this family auction house. “Unknown pieces that have stayed in the same family for 100 years are very attractive to Chinese collectors. They know the pieces are very authentic. Confidence is very important to them.”