Nigerian masterpiece found in London sold for $1.4m

Lagos : A portrait of a Nigerian princess that was lost for more than 40 years and found in a London flat was sold at an auction for 1 million pounds (US$1.4 million) on Wednesday .

“Tutu”, an art work by Nigeria’s best-known modern artist Ben Enwonwu, was painted in 1974 and appeared at an art show in Lagos the following year but its whereabouts after that were unknown until it re-surfaced in north London.

The sale was a world record for the artist. The work had been expected to be sold for between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds (US$277,600-US$416,400).

The auction was held at Bonhams in London and shown live at the Wheatbaker, a hotel popular with artists in Lagos where the sale, made to a telephone bidder, was greeted with applause by about 70 people watching on a big screen.