A portrait by Glyn Warren Philpot which sold for £250,000 at Christie’s South Kensington as part of the pictures formerly in Sir Noël Coward’s collection.
The rare 2ft 1in x 14¾in (63 x 38cm) oil on canvas from 1937 was one of a series of works featuring his West Indian manservant and model Henry Thomas.
A cluster of bidders on March 19 took it well beyond its £15,000-20,000 estimate to £250,000, at which point it sold to a European private buyer.
The price set a new record for the artist by some distance.
The 74 lots generated a hammer total of £1.04m, with 71 finding buyers.
