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Friday, 11 April 2008

Carla Bruni nude photograph sold for £45,000

Chinese art dealer buys artwork after frenzied bidding war

Carla Bruni's nude portrait has been sold for £45,000.

The picture, taken 15 years ago by Swiss photographer Michel Comte, was showcased by auction house Christie's.

After a furious bidding war yesterday, it was eventually sold to an anonymous Chinese art dealer.

'There was a protracted bidding battle,' Rik Pike of Christie's tells the New York Daily News.

The image shows Carla, 40, in a full-frontal pose and is believed to have caused the model and her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, considerable diplomatic embarrassment.

The couple married in February after a whirlwind romance.