A PAINTING sold three years ago in London by Christie’s, the auction house, for £1.69m is a fake, say Russian officials.

Odalisque, a canvas depicting a nude woman reclining on a bed, was presented as a work by Boris Kustodiev, a 19th-century Russian artist. But Rosokhrankultura, the Russian cultural watchdog, has listed Odalisque as a forgery.

The claim is backed by two Russian museums, which concluded that the canvas is by an unknown artist. Its owner is understood to have approached Christie’s to claim a refund and the auction house has promised to investigate.

A new catalogue of alleged forgeries, the fifth to have been compiled by the Russians in two years, includes another painting sold by Christie’s in 2000 and one sold by Sotheby’s two years later. Neither auction house is accused of any wrongdoing. The Russian authorities say they were duped.

“We believe this to be the tip of the iceberg,” said Vladimir Roschin, who jointly compiled the list of more than 900 fake paintings. “Over the past few years the Russian art market has been flooded with forgeries. It’s a scam worth millions.”

Christie’s described Odalisque as a work dating from 1919. It was said to have come from the collection of Leo Maskovskii, a Russian refugee, and sold for nearly eight times its estimate.

A painting sold by Christie’s for £8,460 in 2000 as a work by Andrei Schilder was also listed as a forgery. The auction house said concerns had been raised shortly after the sale, which had been cancelled.

In 2004 Sotheby’s withdrew a painting authenticated by the Tretyakov gallery in Moscow as the work of Ivan Shishkin, a 19th-century artist. It had been expected to fetch £700,000.

The Russian art market has attracted criminal gangs who collude with forgers, art dealers and corrupt experts. Typically, minor European artists doctor works to pass them off as paintings by Russian masters.

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