An abstract sculpture of a bird by Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi caused auction prices to soar in New York on Wednesday(May 4), setting a new world record when it finally sold for $27,456,000. Brancusi's Bird in Space, a marble piece depicting a bird soaring into the sky, was sold by Christie's New York to an anonymous buyer on Wednesday. The 121cm marble piece, thought to have been sculpted in around 1923 after Brancusi had upped sticks to Paris, had been hidden away in a private collection before the sale at the American branch of Christie's auction house. But the Romanian artist born in 1876 has a good track record when it comes to fetching high prices, and another of his pieces, Danaide, was the previous record-holder. In 2002 Danaide went for 18.1 million (9.5 million). May 2005 |