Works by Picasso, Dali go on Taobao

"The Visage" by Pablo Picasso

alvador Dali's sculpture "The Persistence of Memory"

China's largest online trading platform Taobao, known for selling regular consumer goods, has put two art pieces by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali up for auction, starting with a floor price of just one yuan.

Bids for Picasso's The Visage have exceeded a million yuan.

Picasso produced "The Visage," a linocut engraving, in 1963. Art critics say that it was rare for Picasso to engrave on a linocut board, and that makes "The Visage" a valuable piece of art.

"It has a lot of cubism in it. I think that lot of elements on it are a feast for the eyes. Its arrangement of lines, the thickness, the length and the style are all of great artistic value," said Lu Zhiping from Shanghai Artists Association.

The other work up for auction is Salvador Dali's sculpture "The Persistence of Memory." Both pieces are owned by an art gallery in New York City.

Taobao set the starting price at one yuan, but any new bid must be at least 5,000 yuan higher than the previous bid.

Taobao says that it will not charge commission fees on the two pieces, and it hopes to challenge the traditional auction houses in the middle and lower end auction market for art.

"Buyers need to pay about 10 percent of the final bidding price as commission fees to the auction houses, but that doesn't apply to our online trades. You just pay the winning price," said Xin Yu from Taobao.com.

Bidding is open worldwide, but the sale is being done completely in Chinese. The auction will end on Friday.

Taobao says that "The Visage" has been valued at 1.5 million yuan and "The Persistence of Memory" has been valued at 450,000 yuan.