Rembrandt's "Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo" (1658) goes on sale at Christie's London in December.

It could be the most highly estimated Old Master painting ever offered at auction: a Rembrandt portrait that’s expected to fetch between 18 million pounds and 25 million pounds ($41 million) at Christie’s Dec. 8 sale of Old Masters and 19th-century art.

The 3-foot, 6-inch-high work was painted in 1658 by the 17th-century Dutch master and portrays an unidentified man with his hand on his hip. It has not been offered at auction since 1930. The painting was owned by Columbia University from 1958 until 1974, when it was sold to a unnamed “distinguished private collection,” the current seller, Christie’s says. The record auction price for a Rembrandt is the 19.8 million pounds paid in 2000 for a portrait of an old woman at Christie’s in London. The auction record for any Old Master is the 49.5 million pounds paid in 2002 for Rubens’s Massacre of the Innocents at Sotheby’s in London.