Maurizio Cattelan’s provocative artwork of a banana duct-taped to a wall has fetched $6.2m (£4.9m) at Sotheby’s in New York – four times higher than pre-sale estimates.

The auction house says Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun outbid six other rivals to get the “Comedian” installation of the Italian visual artist on Wednesday.

“In the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience,” Mr Sun was quoted as saying.

The taped banana - now perhaps one of the most expensive fruits ever sold – was actually bought earlier in the day for a mere $0.35, according to the New York Times.

“Comedian” was first unveiled to the public in 2019, instantly becoming a viral sensation and also provoking heated debates about what art is.

The Installation – which has travelled around the world – comes with instructions on how to replace the banana whenever it rots.

In fact, the fruit has been eaten not once, but twice.

In 2023, a South Korean art student helped himself when the installation went on display at Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art.

The museum later placed a new banana in the same spot, local media reported.

Four years earlier, a performance artist pulled the banana from the wall after the artwork was sold for $120,000 at Art Basel in Miami.

The banana was swiftly replaced, and no further action was taken.

Justin Sun runs the Tron blockchain network, which facilitates some cryptocurrency transactions. Last year the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of fraud, saying he had falsely inflated trading volumes of TRX, Tron’s crypto token. Mr Sun denies the charges. (BBC)

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