The Russian art sales, held by London's four major auction houses this week have netted some 45.6 million pounds ($67.1 million) amid sustainable demand.

This week's top artists offered by Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams MacDougall's were Alexander Yakovlev, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Niko Pirosmani. Some of their works cleared the threshold of one million pounds.

Sotheby's showed the highest total of 22.3 million pounds ($32.8 million) in three sessions this week. It also sold the most expensive artwork of the Russian sales - Alexander Yakovlev's "Titi and Naranghe, Daughters of Chief Eki Bondo."

The painting was among 400 canvases and drawings Yakovlev brought back from the African journey with the Citroen Centre-Afrique expedition in 1924-1925. It was sold for 2.5 million pounds ($3.7 million), almost three times its pre-sale estimate of 900,000 pounds ($1.3 million).

Ivan Shishkin's "The Dark Wood" also was among the top lots as it went under hammer for more than 1.2 million pounds ($1.8 million).

Yuri Annenkov's "Portrait Of Zinovii Grzhebin," dated 1919, also exceeded its pre-sale estimate of 0.8-1.2 million pounds ($1.2-1.8 million) and was sold to an unknown buyer from a CIS state for almost 1.8 million pounds ($2.6 million).

Chriestie's art sales brought in about 12 million pounds ($17.6 million). Art dealer Alex Lachmann made the winning bid for the week's highlight, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's "Vasya" painting.

The canvas was sold for 1.8 million pounds ($2.6 million), five times more than the estimated price. The painting, which has not appeared on the market since 1932, has made a new price record for Petrov-Vodkin.

Chriestie's also sold Konstantin Korovins "Still Life with Roses and Apples" for 937,000 pounds ($1.3 million).

During the auction, a price record was also set for Mikhail Zichy, whose 1866 montage marking the occasion of the Emperor Alexander II's silver wedding jubilee was sold for 457,250 pounds ($660,000). Nicolas Kalmakoff's "Aphrodite with Eros and Anteros" also established a price record for the artist as it went under hammer for 313,000 pounds ($450,000).

MacDougall's top lot was Niko Pirosmani's "Arsenal Hill at Night" (1907), which was sold to a European collector for almost 1.1 million pounds ($1.6 million), slightly below the highest pre-sale estimate of 1.2 million pounds ($1.8 million).

Nikolai Roerich's "The Black Gobi" (1928) was sold to a Russian buyer for 790,000 pounds ($1.2 million), above the top estimate of 700,000 pounds ($1 million).

Bonhams showed the lowest incomes, by selling only 49.6% of its lots, and more than a half of them were sold below the lowest estimate. The auction house gathered 1.9 million pounds ($2.8 million) in total.