KUALA LUMPUR, — A 1954 yellow and blue Mark Rothko painting once owned by infamous businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, is set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong this November, the first Rothko oil painting to be auctioned in Asia.
The abstract piece, titled Untitled (Yellow and Blue), is valued between US$30 million (RM126 million) and US$45 million, according to artnet news, according to a report published in The Star today.
The painting will feature in a Modern and Contemporary art auction on November 8 at Sotheby’s Maison, a 24,000-square-foot retail and exhibition venue located in the Landmark Chater mall in Hong Kong’s Central district.
Untitled (Yellow and Blue) will be on display at the venue from this Friday until September 25.
This isn’t the first time the painting, which resembles an inverted Ukrainian flag, has appeared at auction.
In 2015, it sold for US$46.5 million (RM195 million) at Sotheby’s in New York, as per the Artnet Price Database.
Originally acquired by American philanthropists Paul and Bunny Mellon in the early 1970s, shortly after Rothko’s suicide, it was later sold privately to French luxury tycoon Francois Pinault, the owner of Christie’s.
In 2013, Untitled (Yellow and Blue) became part of Jho Low’s art collection.
However, earlier this year, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) ordered Low to forfeit more than US$100 million in assets, including luxury properties and artworks by Claude Monet and Andy Warhol, due to his involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.