An assistant displays a nude photo of Carla Bruni, taken by US photographer Pamela Hanson, at the show room of the Villa Griesebach Auction in Berlin. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The image is one of 10 prints of a nude Bruni lounging in an unmade bed captured by American fashion photographer Pamela Hanson in 1994.
The Villa Grisebach auction house appraised "Carla Bruni in Bed" at €2,500-3,500 and talked to prospective buyers from as far away as Mexico, according to the house's photography expert, Franziska Schmidt.
"I really don't know why there is such a hype," Schmidt said. "For us it is not the highlight."
Last year, Christie's auction house in New York sold a different nude print of Bruni for 30 times more than anticipated. An anonymous bidder paid $US91,000 ($NZ146,302) for the photograph.
Villa Grisebach would not provide any information on the winning bidder.
