Nu adossé I, by Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka, has sold for $5.4m in New York.

The 1925 work, which was once believed lost, beat its $5m high estimate by 9.17% at Sotheby's Impressionist & Modern Art Evening sale on May 2.

De Lempicka is among the most popular Art Deco artists with collectors

The consignor contacted Sotheby's just last year about selling the piece, having acquired it years earlier without realising its value.

It had last been seen in the year of its creation, when it appeared in de Lempicka's exhibition at Milan's Bottegia di Poesia gallery.

Soon afterwards the painting disappeared.

Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the Art Deco period, the sale continues a strong few months for de Lempicka's works.

Her 1930 piece La dormeuse sold at Sotheby's in June 2011 for a world record $6.6m. Five months later the record was broken again, when Sotheby's sold her 1927 painting Le rêve for $8.5m in November - growth of 28%.

The auction also featured the $29.2m sale of Femme assise dans un fauteuil by Picasso, whom de Lempicka knew during the Parisian art scene of the 1920s.

Star of the sale was Edvard Munch's The Scream, which made an auction world record $119.9m.

Take a look at this signed Pablo Picasso postcard we currently have available.