A PRIVATE collector has bought a portrait photograph of a potato for £750,000 (US$1.07 million) after spotting the artwork hanging on a wall during dinner.

    Kevin Abosch, 46, a photographer who built his reputation on portraits of the rich and famous, was hosting the anonymous businessman for the meal when the buyer first spotted it.

    He now claims the excessive price was the most he had ever been paid for a photograph that was bought, rather than commissioned.

    “It’s not the first time that someone has bought the art right off my wall,” he told The Sunday Times. “We had two glasses of wine, and he said, ‘I really like that.’”

    “Two more glasses of wine and he said: ‘I really want that.’ We set the price two weeks later.”

    The photograph, which he named Potato #345, had been delivered to his home with a batch of organic vegetables, the paper reported.

    His studio told PetaPixel: “Kevin likes potatoes because they, like people, are all different yet immediately identifiable as being essentially of the same species.

    “He has photographed many potatoes. This one is one of his favorites.”

    It shows the unremarkable and dirt-encrusted potato pictured on his signature jet black background.

    However, the image is a step away from his staple work of commissioned portraits of the rich and famous.

    Previous clients include executives of Silicon Valley, such as Sheryl Sandberg and Zack Sims, as well as actors and musicians including Dustin Hoffman, Johnny Depp, Bob Geldof and Yoko Ono.(SD-Agencies)