Hong Kong to host auction of US$46.5 million Mark Rothko piece once owned by Jho Low
Sotheby’s says sale of Untitled (Yellow and Blue) represents Asia’s first auction of late artist’s major work
Auction house Sotheby’s said over the weekend that the piece by the late American abstract painter would be featured in its modern and contemporary art auction on November 8 at its venue in Central.
Rothko was one of the most important US post-war painters and his works have fetched some of the highest prices for art at auction.
Untitled (Yellow and Blue) stands at more than two metres (6.6 feet) tall and was exhibited at Sotheby’s from Friday last week to Wednesday.
Sotheby’s said the sale represented the first auction of a major Rothko piece in Asia.
The work, painted in 1954 and resembling an inverted Ukrainian flag, was once owned by Low, who is commonly known as Jho Low.
Low is a key figure in an international money-laundering investigation related to the alleged misappropriation of US$4.5 billion from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund.
