A photograph of Madonna lying naked on a bed is set to go under the hammer in New York next month.

The smoking hot image was taken by fashion snapper Steven Meisel for her controversial 1992 book Sex but was never included in the finished article.

Featuring a bleach-blonde Madge, the raunchy picture shows the queen of pop wearing nothing but a strategically-placed sheet to protect her modesty and holding a cigarette to her lips.

Judith Eurich from the auction house suggested the cigarette was merely for dramatic purposes, telling the Daily Mail: "She is a very healthy person and I'd imagine the cigarette is just a prop to make her look sexy and sultry."

No doubt Madge would agree. She recently [uuid=aa39e976-77ac-4e86-b8de-1cea44b2eb38]blasted accusations of hypocrisy[/uuid] over her daughter Lourdes' smoking habit and insisted she wasn't a smoker.

The seductive photo is expected to fetch more than £5,000 when it goes to auction at Bonhams on 8 May.