AN art exhibit that police are examining to see if it breaches child pornography laws belongs to Sir Elton John.

A statement on Sir Elton's website confirmed he is the owner of the photograph, called Klara and Edda Belly Dancing, which was produced by controversial US artist Nan Goldin.

It was taken for examination by police, who were called in last week by the management of the Baltic arts centre, in Gateshead, the day before the opening of an exhibition of 149 Nan Goldin photographs owned by Sir Elton.

The picture is of a young girl wearing underpants and a see-through skirt standing over a younger girl, who is naked and lying back with her legs open. It was shot in Berlin in 1998.

The exhibition, called Thanksgiving, went ahead as planned without the photograph, which police and lawyers are examining to see if it breaches any laws.

It is part of the 2003 collection of Ms Goldin's work called The Devil's Playground, has been offered for sale at Sotheby's, in New York, in 2002 and 2004, and has been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid, Portugal, Warsaw and Zurich without any objections.

The website statement said: "Elton John is known as one of the world's foremost collectors of photographic art and has several thousand photographs in his collection, including works by Man Ray, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams. Elton John purchased the Thanksgiving installation from the White Cube gallery, in London, in 1999, and the installation is presently on loan to The Baltic."

Last night, a police spokesman said the investigation was continuing and was unable to indicate when a decision might be reached about whether the picture broke the law.

Ms Goldin could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

The gallery has declined to comment.

Thanksgiving will run until January 20.