Step aside Antiques Roadshow! Painting hanging in woman’s kitchen worth millions

Have you got an old painting passed down the generations, or perhaps a classic ornament you’ve stuffed to the back of a cupboard? While many may be worth next to nothing, one woman in her 90s has been left shocked after being told an old painting she had innocently hung above a hot plate in her kitchen could be worth millions.

The early Renaissance masterpiece, thought to be by the Florentine painter Cimabue, was reportedly spotted in the nick of time by an auctioneer after the woman packed up her belongings and prepared to move out of her home on the outskirts of a town north of Paris, France. The intricate wooden painting, named Christ Mocked, is said to be part of a series of paintings from the late 13th Century and measures about 24 centimetres by 20 centimetres.

According to multiple news outlets, the painting is going on auction and is expected to fetch between €4-6 million (AU $6.4-9.7 million). Stephane Pinta, an art specialist with the Turquin gallery in Paris, expressed her excitement at the find and, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, said of the artwork: “It’s a major discovery for the history of art.”

The small wood painting, which has gone unnoticed for years in the woman’s house, depicts Christ surrounded by a crowd and Pinta added: “What’s moving in this painting is the motion that we see in Christ.”

According to reports, tests were carried out on the artwork using infrared light in order to determine any similarities with other known works by Cimabue, with experts insisting there’s little doubt it’s by the same hand. The artist’s work was usually displayed on wood and was largely influenced by Byzantine art – famously produced on poplar wood with gold painted backgrounds.

Art expert Eric Turquin told The Art newspaper that they could work out clues about the painting from the panel itself, adding: “You can follow the tunnels made by the worms.” He was referring to tracks made by wood-eating larvae and explained they were similar to those found in other Cimabue artwork.

Remarkably the artwork is still in good condition, despite the fact it was placed on the wall above a hot plate in the woman’s kitchen. The piece is now set to be auctioned in France on October 27.

It’s not unheard of for a family to discover an ornament or painting they had unknowingly kept in their house is actually worth a huge sum of money. Just months ago, a family discovered a gold bowl what was once classed as a cheap knock-off was actually a prized artefact worth a whopping £4.8 million Swiss francs (AU$5.8M).

It was one of those unique goodies purchased while on holiday in China that eventually became home to the family’s tennis ball collection, until earlier this year when it was discovered by Swiss auctioneers Koller Auctions, CNN reported at the time. The experts were perusing the family’s home for any potential collectors’ items when they came across the bowl, a parcel-gilt bronze incense burner with phoenix heads for handles.

The family, originally from Germany, had previously had it valued but were told it was essentially a piece of rubbish that wasn’t worth anything. A museum in Berlin had even refused to take it, claiming they had no interest in the bowl.

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But according to Karl Green, head of media relations and marketing for Koller Auctions, experts knew straight away it was something special which they needed to investigate further. It is believed the bowl is from the late 17th century and was most likely made for Chinese emperors.

“(Koller Auctions’ experts) think because of the peonies and the phoenix decoration and because of the quality, it was probably made for Chinese emperors,” Green explained to the news outlet. “When you compare to other incense burners or other bronze objects of this size and date, it went far above what anything else has made, worldwide.”

The bowl garnered a lot of attention at the auction in Hong Kong with around 30 bidders reportedly vying to take home the prized possession. In the end it was sold for the impressive AU$5.8 million.