MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mao portrait by Andy Warhol sold at US$ 12.6m in Hong Kong

The painting, titled “Mao”, was sold to a private Asian collector at a Sotheby's auction — it sold for much less than the US$15 million it expected to fetch.

An Andy Warhol portrait of Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong has been sold at a historic auction for US$12.6 million in Hong Kong. It is the first time one of Warhol's works depicting the founder of the communist leader has been auctioned and sold in a Chinese territory.

 Previously, Chinese officials had stopped versions of the painting being exhibited in its territories, where censors closely guard Mao's image.

The painting, simply titled “Mao”, was sold to a private Asian collector at a Sotheby's auction — it sold for much less than the US$15 million it expected to fetch.

The portrait was last on sale three years ago in London and its value has since increased nearly 20%.

Sotheby's Asia Chairman Patti Wong said there was continual interest in western art by Asian buyers.

Warhol began his series of silk-screen portraits of Mao in 1972, when ties between then-Cold War foes China and US began to thaw after the historic trip to Beijing by former US president Richard Nixon.