Hong Kong to host auction of US$46.5 million Mark Rothko piece once owned by Jho Low

A Mark Rothko painting once owned by Malaysian fugitive financier Low Taek Jho will be auctioned in Hong Kong in November, in what is billed as the artist’s first major work to go under the hammer in Asia.

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.