How much?! This masterpiece has just sold for a cool NINE figure sum

A painting of a nude female that caused quite the scandal nearly a century ago went up on the auction block for the first time this week. 

Amedeo Modigliani's Recling Nude was created from 1917 to 1918 and was the highlight of Christie's New York auction sale. 

The auction for the 1918 painting blew previous records away as it sold for $170m (€158m), 100m more than previous record prices. 

The seller was listed as Laura Mattioli Rossi, the daughter of the Italian art collector Gianni Mattioli. “This is the painting that defines Modigliani,” said Mariolina Bassetti, Christie’s chairman.

The heated bidding race only took half an hour which is good news for Christie's auctions, as the company has a full week of contemporary-art sales ahead of them. 

Recling Nude stands atop Modigliani's relatively small collection of paintings. He only managed to produce 350 before he passed away at the age of 35 due to tuberculosis in 1920.