the only google info I got (apart from the cold weather superstition) is related to a popular brand of (under)pants – and triggers the blocking software here!
I am part Chinese and have a number of books about Chinese horoscopes and supersitions; whilst monkeys are seen as auspicious animals and statues of them were often put in houses to attract good luck, there is AFAIK no particular superstition attached to statues of them in general.
I suspect these brass monkeys are made in considerable quantity in some Chinese factory, and then sold in “fancy goods stores” worldwide.
The eyes would probably be made from a prismatic plastic or glass material; the strategic placing of reflective materials is encouraged in many schools of Feng Shui to reflect “ch’i” into the correct directions.
Given this occured at 02:00 on a Saturday, I would suspect what happened is (unfortunately) fairly rational; an external light source (such as a car headlight or even an outside security lamp triggered by someone arriving or leaving a building) was shining on to the monkeys’ eyes – and positioned so that whilst it did not light up the room light was reflected by the eyes in a similar way to how reflective road studs (cats eyes) operate.
