An auction of works by the late Lucian Freud has resulted in a record-breaking sale of a print by the artist.
Entitled Eli, the etching fetched £145,250 when it went under the hammer at Christie's in London - the highest ever auction price paid for a Freud print and well over the £70,000 it was estimated to sell for.
A total of 38 works by the artist, created over a 25-year period and said to be the most complete array of his prints ever to be auctioned, were sold.
His 1996 etching of a sitter called Sue Tilley, entitled Woman with an Arm Tattoo, fetched the second highest price of £121,250.
Eli sold for £145,250
Known as "fat Sue", an oil portrait of the same woman sold for £20.6 million in 2008, setting a world record.
A third etching, called Kai and dating from 1992-92, fetched £91,250 at the sale, called The Printer's Proof: Etchings by Lucian Freud from the Studio Prints Archive.
Both prices were also well in excess of the sums they were expected to attract.
Woman with an Arm Tattoo, of Sue Tilley, sold for £121,250
All the works on sale came from the private collection of Freud's master printer, Marc Balakjian.
The artist and the printer - who is based in a north London studio - worked together for a quarter of a century, with Freud taking a painstaking interest in every detail of the printing process to ensure they were exactly right.
Almost entirely in black and white, the works were done as Freud sketched his sitters directly onto copper plates, prior to the printing process.
He preferred to use natural light, rather than using lamps to light his subjects as he did for oil portraits.
His celebrated paintings saw him build thick colourful layers of oils to create his unforgiving and often unflattering images.
The prints, however, are much simpler and more stripped back, while still realistically capturing the rolls of flesh, the wrinkles and the jowls.
Richard Lloyd, head of Christie's print department, said: "This highly successful sale was a tribute to Lucian Freud, who was not only a painter of immense talent, but also an inspired printmaker.
"It was likewise a tribute to Marc Balakjian, the master printer who worked with Freud for the last 25 years and from whose collection the sale came.
"The auction broke all previous records for Freud's graphic work, and saw participation from many buyers new to this market."
Mr Balakjian said: "I had the pleasure of working with Lucian in my studio for 25 years, during which time we became good friends.
"He was always courteous and kind.
"His work was always exceptional but his character so informal that you would never know he was one of the most important living artists of the time.
"He was an inspirational artist to work with.
"His prints don't just enrich his work, they are an integral part of his output. They show his versatility and define him as a great draughtsman."
Freud died in July at the age of 88.