NEW YORK - A New York auction house official says the sale of a rare painting by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci for a record $450 million is "an honor that comes around once in a lifetime."
 
The painting shows Christ holding a crystal orb and is called "Salvator Mundi," Italian for "Savior of the World." It sold at Christie's auction house Wednesday.
 
Christie's co-chairman of post-war and contemporary art Loic Gouzer describes the artwork as a "painting of the most iconic figure in the world by the most important artist of all time."
 
The highest price paid for a work of art at auction had been $179 million, for Pablo Picasso's painting "Women of Algiers (Version O)" in May 2015, also at Christie's in New York.
 
The highest known sale price for any artwork had been $300 million for the private sale of Willem de Kooning's painting "Interchange" in September 2015.