Warhol’s Mao fetches record price

Andy Warhol’s iconic image of Communist Party Chairman Mao Tse-tung, considered one of his most sensational pieces of the 1970s, sold for $17.4 million, a world auction record for the artist, Christie’s auction house said.

The portrait was offered by the Swiss-based Daros Collection, owner of one of the greatest private holdings of Warhol paintings, and was sold Wednesday to Joseph Lau of Hong Kong.

Warhol’s 1962 work, “Orange Marilyn,” went for $16.2 million. “Sixteen Jackies,” from 1964, sold for $15.6 million.

The largest sale of the evening was an abstract 1977 painting by Willem de Kooning, called “Untitled XXV.” It sold for $27 million, a world auction record for postwar art, Christie’s said. The buyer’s name was not released.