June 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Irish rock band U2 may get up to 6 million pounds ($11.7 million) from the sale of a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat which has been hanging in its Dublin studio for nearly two decades, said Sotheby's.

``Untitled (Pecho/Oreja),'' featuring Basquiat's trademark primitive mask motif, is expected to fetch at least 4 million pounds in the London sale on July 1, the auction house said in an e-mailed statement.

The 6-foot-square acrylic, oil stick and collage canvas dates from 1982, when the artist was 22 years old, said Sotheby's. The band jointly acquired the painting in 1989 after bassist Adam Clayton saw it at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York.

``Everyone's talking about Bacon, Freud and Koons, but Basquiat is still a highly desirable artist,'' said Oliver Barker, senior specialist at Sotheby's contemporary art department in London, in a telephone interview.

Barker said the painting's combination of a prestigious provenance, early date and a composition influenced by artists as diverse as Picasso and Cy Twombly would have broad appeal.

``Basquiat attracts collectors of modern as well as contemporary art,'' he said. ``It seems especially appropriate that a work by Basquiat should end up at a music studio. So much has been said about the relationship between his art and music.''

The record auction price for Basquiat is the double-estimate $14.6 million with fees paid at Sotheby's New York in May 2007 for another 6-foot wide early painting, ``Untitled,'' dating from 1981, according to the saleroom result tracker Artnet. All five of the top auction prices paid for Basquiat have been for works dating from 1981-82, said Artnet.

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.

Last Updated: June 12, 2008 05:00 EDT