But it could be another Tretchikoff painting called After The Dance. But either way, it wasn't what was sold at the Brett Kebble auction.

From IOL:

This is the first time that Britz, who sold the painting for a record R3.2-million including commission at the auction earlier this year, admitted that it was not the original work.

Beeld newspaper reported shortly after the auction that there were differences in detail between the painting owned by Kebble, and a picture of the painting that appeared in a book by Howard Timmins on Tretchikoff's work in 1969.

But at the time, Britz said that Tretchikoff could have painted two versions of the "Lost Orchid".

Besides several small differences in the two paintings, the Kebble painting's signature is different to Tretchikoff's known signature.

Throughout his work, Tretchikoff's signature did not have lines struck through the letters "f" in his surname, but in the Kebble work, it is struck through.

The sale of the painting has been suspended.