Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Christ, Salvator Mundi, sold for a record-smashing $450.3 million on Wednesday at Christie's, more than double the old price for any work of art at auction.

The painting, only recently rediscovered, was the last Da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times Christie's' pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.

It beat a record set in May 2015 by Pablo Picasso's Les Femmes D'Alger, which sold for $179.4 million, and constituted more than half the sale's total of $785.9 million, which came in well above the roughly $450 million pre-sale estimate. Salvator Mundi was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted contest of nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.

With at least six bidders and increments coming in at more than 15 million, sustained whoops and cheers broke out in the packed salesroom as the hammer came down.

The restored portrait, which dates back to about 1500, is one of fewer than 20 paintings by the Renaissance artist known to still exist.  Christie's did not identify the seller, other than to say it was a European private collector.

Source: Khaleej Times