A Japanese woodblock print from the Edo era fetched 745,000 euros ($841,000) at auction in Paris on Wednesday, setting a world record for both the genre and the artist, Kitagawa Utamaro, the auctioneer said.

The work by the 18th-century artist, titled Fukaku shinobu koi (Deeply Hidden Love), was auctioned jointly by the Beaussant Lefevre auction house in association with Christie's.

The print, from his Anthology of Love series, was the star lot in a collection worth an estimated 1.5 million euros that had been held by the Portier family for four generations.

The work had been expected to fetch around 100,000 euros.

Utamaro, born in 1753 in Tokyo - then named Edo and the heart of Japan's last feudal military government - was a leading producer of the Ukiyo-e genre of painting and printing.

He was renowned for his works depicting beautiful women but also nature, including insects.

All of the 90 lots put up for auction - mainly Japanese earthenware including chawan (tea bowls) and kogo incense boxes - found buyers.

The auction featured eight exceptional Edo stamps in all, mainly portraits of actors by leading lights of the genre including Toshusai Sharaku - active only between 1794 and 1795 - and Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825).

Each was acquired by Henri Portier and his son Andre, major figures in the Asian art market in France, in sales at the Drouot auction house over the past century.