Collector pays $170.4m for Modigliani artwork

Chinese collector Liu Yiqian bought Amedeo Modigliani's signature portrait of a nude woman for $170.4 million on Monday at Christie's in New York, setting a record for the Italian artist's works.

Liu, founder of the Long Museum in Shanghai, won the bidding after more than 10 rounds for Modigliani's Reclining Nude, from 1917, at a price that, according to Christie's, also was the second-highest ever paid for artwork sold at auction.

The winning bid also was the highest that a Chinese buyer has ever paid for a Western artwork. In recent years, super-rich Chinese buyers frequently have offered high prices for works by Western masters such as Picasso, Van Goghand Monet. According to Jussi Pylkkanen, Christie's global president, the auction house has created a good relationship with collectors from China.