London, Jun 29 (IANS): A life-sized elephant in a crouched position by UK-born Indian sculptor Bharti Kher fetched over £900,000 at an auction by Sotheby's in London Monday evening.

"The Skin Speaks a Language not its Own" is one of the most talked-about works by Kher, said the auction house which expected it to fetch between £700,000 and a million pounds.

It ultimately went for £993, 250, just short of the high end target, at the Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction.

It took Kher 10 months to create. Zara Porter-Hill, director and head of Sotheby's Indian Art Department, said: "Despite our familiarity with elephants, nothing prepares the viewer for the emotional experience of seeing Kher's elephant, huge and incongruous in the gallery space. With her head resting on her front foot, she is brought down to our level and her glassy black eye entreats a communion and proximity rarely encountered in the wild."