NEW YORK, United States (US): A golden toilet designed by Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan, was sold for USD12.1 million (RM50 million) at an auction in New York, auction house Sotheby’s said on Tuesday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The toilet is made of about 101 kilogrammes of 18-carat gold and is fully operational.
The starting price was based on the price of gold on the day of the auction, Sotheby’s had said ahead of the sale.
On Tuesday, 101 kilogrammes of 18-carat gold were worth about USD10 million (RM42 million).
Cattelan, 65, produced two versions of the toilet in 2016, titling both ‘America’.
One was displayed in New York’s Guggenheim Museum, before it was stolen in 2019 from Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill in England, where it was on loan.
The second version was sold in 2017 to a private collector, who put it up for auction.
According to US media reports, the collector is the billionaire, Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets baseball team.
The auction of this work caused quite a stir in the run-up to the sale and was eagerly awaited.
According to the auction house, a famous American brand won the bid.
Cattelan has built a reputation for his unusual conceptual artwork.
Last year, a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape, titled ‘Comedian’, sold for USD6.2 million (RM25.6 million) in New York. – BERNAMA-dpa
