On July 4, Cleveland Museum of Art curator Jon Seydl celebrated his winning bid for an Englishman's copy of Titian’s famous 16th-century masterpiece, “Bacchus and Ariadne.” Beyond a masterful copy, the work was enticing in its own right.

Seydl phone bid from his London hotel room for the rare 1811 enamel-on-copper copy of the Titian by Henry Bone of England.

The final price came to $478,346 at Christie’s Old Master sale. The enamel measures 16 by 18 inches, which is exceptionally large for the medium. Most enamels are done in miniature because of the painstaking labor involved, for one.

“I was so excited!” Seydl said to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “This is so unique. Thousands of people went to see this work in his [Bone’s] studio. It was a huge sensation in his day.”