Ofili portrait expected to sell for more than £1m

A work by the Turner prize-winning British artist Chris Ofili, featuring his signature use of elephant dung, will be auctioned for the first time at Christie's in October.

- Sinéad Campbell

Blossom (1997), a portrait created a year before Ofili became the first black artist to win the Turner prize in 1998, is estimated to sell for £1m to £1.5m. The piece blends sacred iconography with popular culture and African symbolism, using Ofili's signature materials of glitter, resin and elephant dung.

Tessa Lord, the head of postwar and contemporary art at Christie's London, which is selling the work on 15 October, said: "This is one of the most exciting paintings that I've worked with in a long time. Ofili's works are rare to auction."