The owner of a chain of barbecue restaurants in the U.S. has paid $50,605 US for a portrait of television satirist Stephen Colbert.

Chad Walldorf, owner of the Sticky Fingers restaurants, made the winning bid on eBay, with the money going to the charity Save the Children.

This portrait of Stephen Colbert from the comedy show The Colbert Report sold for $50,605 US on eBay.
(Comedy Central/ Associated Press)

The painting comes from the set of The Colbert Report — the comedian's talk show parody — and used to hang above the fireplace of the Comedy Central program.

It shows Colbert standing solemnly in front of a similar portrait of himself.

“We don't know much about art, but figured any time you can get two portraits for the price of one, then it must be a great deal … It's like a buy-one-get-one-free on the American Dream," Walldorf said.

The restaurateur said he would likely hang the portrait at his Charleston, S.C., locale, Colbert’s hometown.

A new painting, in a similar vein, now graces the set’s wall.

“We saw it as a way to invest in a great cause while … doing something that we thought would be fun for our employees and customers," Walldorf said.

The Colbert Report is a spinoff of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. Colbert plays a right-wing anchor, who is well-intentioned but obtuse and poorly informed.

With files from the Associated Press