A Mark Rothko painting that once belonged to the fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong this week for HK$252.5 million ($32.5 million), including fees. That figure is roughly 30 percent lower than its previous auction price a decade ago.
The 1954 canvas, Untitled (Yellow and Blue), was the leading lot of the first modern and contemporary art evening sale to be held at Sotheby’s Maison, the new retail and exhibition space that the auction house opened in the city’s Central business district in July. Backed by a third-party guarantee, it hammered at HK$225 million ($28.9 million), just under the low end of its $30 million–$50 million estimate, selling to art adviser Patti Wong, who was buying in person for a client. The work is the first Rothko oil painting offered at auction in Asia.
The painting has passed through the hands of many high-profile collectors. It was first acquired by the American philanthropists Paul and Bunny Mellon around 1970–71 and then sold privately to French luxury mogul Francois Pinault, the billionaire owner of Christie’s. In 2013, the painting became one of many artworks acquired by Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian financier allegedly involved in a massive money-laundering scheme that was exposed in 2016. Sotheby’s got the work for sale in 2015 because it was used as collateral for a loan by Low. The buyer of the painting at Sotheby’s in 2015 was Azerbaijani-Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov; the painting was among the assets contested by his ex-wife in a court case over a £450 million ($579 million) divorce payout in 2017. The identity of the most recent consignor is not currently known.
The last time it appeared at auction, at Sotheby’s New York in 2015, it fetched $46.5 million, according to the Artnet Price Database. At the time, the work was estimated at $40 million to $60 million.
The 30 percent drop in price reflects the broader global market downturn of the last 18 months (total auction sales in the first half of 2024 were down nearly 30 percent versus the same time period last year). Moreover, prices for Rothko have also slipped in recent years. According to Artnet’s Vivienne Chow and Katya Kazakina, who broke the news in September that Untitled (Yellow and Blue) was heading to Sotheby’s Hong Kong, casino magnate Steve Wynn tried for months to sell his Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange), starting at the 2023 edition of Art Basel with the asking price of $60 million. The canvas eventually landed at Christie’s, fetching $46.4 million on November 9. A day earlier, an untitled 1958 Rothko from the collection of the late collector Emily Fisher Landau disappointed at Sotheby’s, fetching $22.2 million against a low estimate of $30 million.
Sotheby’s Maison at Landmark Chater. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The Rothko was not the only disappointment at Sotheby’s first marquee sale in its new Hong Kong headquarters. Of 35 lots on offer, seven were withdrawn in advance, suggesting a lack of buyer interest, and another five went unsold, yielding a sell-through rate of 65 percent. Among the withdrawn works was one of the sale’s top lots, 02.01.65 (1965) by Zao Wou-Ki, which had a presale estimate of HK$80 million to HK$120 million ($10 million to $15 million); Another painting by Zao, Sans Titre (1950), failed to sell.
Other major works sold for below their estimates, notably George Condo’s Red, White and Black (2014). Backed by a guarantee, it sold for a total of HK$20.4 million ($2.4 million), well below its presale low estimate of HK$25 million ($3.2 million).
The total from the Sotheby’s sale was HK$409.5 million ($52.6 million), which is around 26 percent lower than in 2023, when two separate contemporary and modern evening sales brought in HK$554 million ($71.2 million). The auction house noted that a direct comparison is difficult to draw given that the format of the sales has changed; a spokesperson emphasized that the final total came in “comfortably” within the presale estimate of HK$377.8 million to HK$509 million ($48.6 million to $65.5 million).
Sotheby’s originally planned to stage its fall Hong Kong sales in September, coinciding with Christie’s inaugural sales at its new Asia headquarters in the nearby Henderson building; the rival auction house brought in HK$1.04 billion ($134 million) in its 46-lot evening sale. Sources familiar with Sotheby’s operations said that it was having difficulty securing consignments for its autumn sales due in part to its adjusted fee structure.
The house’s finances have been under a microscope lately following rumors of layoffs, staff bonus IOUs, and several large real estate shifts. Last month, Sotheby’s closed a $1 billion investment deal with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. The deal, announced in August, will help pay off some of its $1.65 billion debt load.
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