NEW YORK, NY (AFP).- A 600-year-old album of Ming Dynasty Buddhist art and calligraphy sold for $14 million in New York on Thursday, the highest price for a Chinese painting sold outside Asia, Sotheby's said.

The sutras, which had been valued at $100,000-$150,000, were sold after frantic bidding between four would-be buyers in Asia and the United States that lasted 31 minutes, the auction house said.

The winner was Chinese tycoon Liu Yiqian, who bid by telephone, Sotheby's said. The taxi-driver-turned-financier is one of China's biggest art collectors. 

Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.37 billion.

Sotheby's said $14 million was the top price for any sale at Asian art auctions in New York this month and the highest price paid for a Chinese painting outside Asia.

The sutras, an album of 39 leaves, came from an important Japanese collection and the only other known works from the series are in Chinese hands.

Liu, 51, in 2014 paid $36 million for a tiny white Ming Dynasty wine cup, breaking the world auction record for Chinese porcelain.




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