Pursuits
Alibaba's Ma Canvas Gets $5.4 Million at Hong Kong Auction
- Jack Ma and Zeng Fanzhi collaborated on painting of Earth
- ``Paradise'' sold for 17 times its high estimate at Sotheby's
Zeng Fanzhi and Jack Ma in front of Paradise. Source. Sotheby's
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A painting by Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi fetched HK$42.2 million ($5.4 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong Sunday, 17 times the high estimate. The money will go to a charity to promote environmental awareness.
The oil on canvas painting, titled “Paradise,” was executed in 2014 and depicts planet Earth. It was sold to a Chinese businessman, Qian Fenglei, who bid by telephone through Sotheby’s Asia Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ching. The upper estimate -- auction houses provide a high and a low -- of the piece’s value was HK$2.5 million.