A painting by Amedeo Modigliani has fetched US$170.4m (£112.7m) at an auction in New York, setting a world record for the artist.

 A Picasso has just been bought for a record US$179m, but is it worth it?

Andrew Frost

Andrew Frost  Read more

Reclining Nude was sold at Christie’s on Monday after a protracted bidding battle. It was the second highest price ever achieved at auction for a work of art.

Christie’s said the painting was bought by private Chinese collectors. The Wall Street Journal named them as the billionaire investor Liu Yiqian and his wife, Wang Wei.

Asian collectors have been especially active in the art market for the past several seasons.

Considered one of his best known works, the 1917-1918 painting nearly created a scandal when it was first exhibited in Paris. The previous auction record for a Modigliani was $71m.

Pablo Picasso’s painting Women of Algiers (Version O) holds the record for the highest sum ever paid for an artwork at auction. It sold for $179.4m at Christie’s in May.

While nearly 30 percent of the “Artist’s Muse” offerings went unsold – Lucian Freud’s Naked Portrait on a Red Sofa was estimated at as much as $30m but failed to sell – the auction took in $494.4m in total.

A new record was set for an auction sale of work by Roy Lichtenstein, the pop artist best known for his vibrant, cartoon-style works. His 1964 painting Nurse fetched $95.4m, within the $80m to $100m estimate.

Christie’s expects to sell at least $1bn of art over a series of sales this week.