Picasso's 'Visage' fetches $180,000 on Taobao  

毕加索麻胶版画《脸》网上拍卖 115万成交（图）

A linocut painting of Pablo Picasso sold for 1.15 million yuan ($180,000) at an online auction last Saturday held by Taobao, China's largest online marketplace. (Photo source: People's Daily)

(ECNS)-- A linocut painting of Pablo Picasso sold for 1.15 million yuan ($180,000) at an online auction last Saturday held by Taobao, China's largest online marketplace, People's Daily said on Monday.

The painting "Visage" was created by Picasso in 1963 and the auctioned print bears the painter's signature. Bidders were required to pay a 1,000 yuan ($160) deposit to participate in the auction.

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

The event marked the debut of Western classical masterpieces being auctioned on Taobao.

Although the event attracted over 6 million people who followed the auction process on Sina Weibo, the number of bidders participating in the event was limited, and most potential buyers remained cautious about the emerging auction platform.

"The authenticity of artworks auctioned online is hard to determine," said Chen Shaofeng, deputy director of the cultural industries institute under Peking University.

Limited information about auctioned items such as file pictures and character instructions shown online is far from enough to attract bidders to Internet art auctions, Chen said.

The lack of legal support for online art auctions has kept insurance companies away from art auctions organized by online shopping platforms, according to Zhu Ji, of the Huatai Insurance Group.

Insurance companies are reluctant to shoulder risks brought about by art dealing and restoration, which require expertise and professional skills.

To boost the market for Internet art auctions, related authorities in China are mulling a new legislation on online auction, and a draft is being developed.