A century-old painting of a cricket match between Kent and Lancashire has been sold for a record £680,000 ($1.2 million) by Kent County Cricket Club (KCCC).
Andrew Brownsword, chairman of Bath Rugby Club, bought the picture - an Albert Chevallier Tayler's 1906-07 masterpiece - at Sotheby's here for the maximum amount paid in the history of cricket paintings, according to a BBC report.
The guide price at Sotheby's was £300,000 pounds ($5,46,300) to £500,000 ($9,10,499).
KCCC chairman Carl Openshaw said that the painting was sold to safeguard the long-term future of the club.
"This unique painting will, in the short-term at least, continue to hang at Lord's where it can be seen by future generations of cricket lovers," he said.
"It was the ideal outcome for the painting, to have been bought by Brownsword."
Tayler was 44 when KCCC commissioned him to do the painting in celebration of the club becoming county champions for the first time in 1906.
The match depicted in the painting is the one in which Kent trounced Lancashire by an innings and 195 runs at Canterbury in August 1906.
The picture has been hanging at Lord's because KCCC could not afford to insure it for display at its own St. Lawrence ground. The club, however, has a replica of original artwork.
{{/usCountry}}The picture has been hanging at Lord's because KCCC could not afford to insure it for display at its own St. Lawrence ground. The club, however, has a replica of original artwork.
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