A long-lost portrait of a Nigerian princess dubbed the "African Mona Lisa" sold at auction in London on Wednesday for £1.2 million (1.4 million euros, $1.7 million), exceeding estimates and setting a record for the artist. The 1974 painting of Adetutu "Tutu" Ademiluyi, by Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, was expected to fetch up to £300,000 (339,000 euros, $414,000) when it went under the hammer at Bonhams auction house. It described the painting of an Ife royal princess which recently turned up in a London flat after not being seen in decades as "rare and remarkable". "The portrait of Tutu is a national icon in Nigeria, and of huge cultural significance," said Giles Peppiatt, Bonham's director of modern african art. He uncovered the work after a family in north London contacted him following lucrative recent sales of Nigerian artworks at auction. Peppiatt added the family were "pretty astounded" to le...
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