“Visage” by Pablo Picasso [Photo/taobao.com]

Internet art auctions are not new, but for the first time ever a work from the great master Picasso went on sale online on May 21, 2014. Bidding for the Picasso print "Visage" auctioned under China's Taobao Spring Auction, started at 1 yuan ($ 0.16).

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The painting “Visage” was created by Picasso in his later years in 1963, and the auctioned print bears the painter’s signature. The bidding rate for the black-and-white abstract engraving was set at 5,000 yuan for each bid ($800). Bidders are required to pay a 1,000 yuan ($160.1) deposit just to participate in the auction.

As of 6 pm Wednesday, the auction page showed 165 bids had been placed on the print, with the last bid totaling over 1.14 million yuan ($182,514).

The online auction also included the Spanish artist Salvador Dali’s signed and limited edition sculpture, "Profile of Time". Bidding for the Dali piece started at 1 yuan, and as of 6 pm Wednesday the latest bid totaled 130,000 yuan ($20,813).

According to Xin Yu, who is in charge of the Taobao art auction site, Chinese buyers are now paying more attention to Western classical art. The introduction of works by Picasso and other masters into the online auction arena is meant to attract more people to Internet auctions. This round of online auctions will run until midnight, May 23.