Record sale naked Carla Bruni pic

Christie's sells naked Carla Bruni picture for £45,000

A naked photograph of Carla Bruni has been snapped up for £45,000.

The First Lady of France was none too impressed when the photographed surfaced the day before she accompanied her husband, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, on a state trip to Britain.

But a Chinese art collector will be very pleased it did ? he (or she) got a buyer to snap it up for £45,000 at Christie's in New York - 22 times the estimated price.

The image of Bruni was taken by photographer Michael Comte in 1993, when she was a top model.

The nude pic didn't, however, spoil her trip to England - the nation fell in love with her sophisticated Dior ensembles and so, by all accounts, did Gordon Brown.