A revealing photograph of former model and France's current first lady Carla Bruni was bought for €13,900 (about $21,500) by an anonymous bidder yesterday at a Berlin auction house.
The image is one of 10 prints of a nude Bruni lounging in an unmade bed captured by American fashion photographer Pamela Hanson in 1994.
The Villa Grisebach auction house appraised Carla Bruni in Bed at between €2,500 and €3,500 and talked to prospective buyers from as far away as Mexico, according to the house's photography expert, Franziska Schmidt.
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"I really don't know why there is such a hype," Schmidt said. "For us it is not the highlight."
Last year, Christie's auction house in New York sold a different nude print of Bruni for 30 times more than anticipated. An anonymous bidder paid $91,000 (U.S.) for the photograph.
Villa Grisebach would not provide any information on the winning bidder yesterday.