Looking in a Mirror by Osman Hamdi Bey, €1m (£884,955) at Dorotheum.
The canvas on offer belongs to a series of paintings in which the Franco-Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) depicted fashionable young women of his day.
The 2ft 4in x 18in (68 x 45cm) interior Looking in a Mirror (previewed in ATG No 2586) illustrates perfectly why Hamdi Bey is considered to be the first exponent of modern Turkish painting, combining western techniques with Oriental motifs.
It took only a short exchange of bids before it was knocked down for its lower estimate of €1m (£884,955). The buyer prefers to remain anonymous, as does the vendor, an unnamed Italian collector.
