An
artwork by modernist master Marc Chagall became the most expensive contemporary
Western painting sold in Asia when it was auctioned on Oct 4, 2010 for $US4.18
million ($4.3 million) at a Hong Kong sale.
Seoul
Auction sold Bestiaire et Musique, a 1969 oil painting typical of
Chagall's whimsical style, to an unidentified buyer.
The
auction house said the work set a new record in a region increasingly wielding
more influence in the global art market.
But the
price, though high for Asia, is still relatively modest compared with the impressive bids for impressionist and 20th century Western masterpieces in London
and New York.
The
Chagall painting depicts a bride and a fiddler floating in a night sky amid
circus performers and animals.