A painting by Russian artist Nicholas Roerich was sold for 993,250 pounds (some $1,635,000) at a Christie's auction in London, the auction house's website said.

The Legend painting, from Roerich's series Messiah, is dated 1923.

Three other Roerich's paintings were also auctioned off at Christie's. Near the Tibetan Frontier and the canvas Rocks and Cliffs, from the series Ladoga, were each sold for 67,250 pounds, and the painting Stupa, from the series Himalayas, fetched 6,250 pounds, the auction house said.

Evgeny Matochkin, an expert on Roerich, suggests that the three paintings of the Messiah series are "the most secret and mysterious of the artist's works", Christie's said.

Traditional autumn Russian art sales began at London's largest auction houses on Monday. Most of the lots being auctioned, including paintings of Alexandra Ester, Ilya Repin, Alexander Yakovlev, Zinaida Serebryakova, were created in the early 20th century.

Heirlooms of Russia's Romanov dynasty, which were evacuated to Sweden ahead of the Russian Revolution and were considered lost for more than 90 years, are also among the lots.

MOSCOW, December 3 (RAI Novosti)