Modigliani painting sold for $43m

An Asian collector paid nearly $43 million for an Amedeo Modigliani painting in New York during an otherwise lackluster evening sale at Sotheby's that began the autumn auction season.

The auction house sold $377 million worth of art amassed by self-made US billionaire Alfred Taubman, a former Sotheby's chairman who did jail time for price fixing in 2002.

The auction saw strong bidding from the United States and Europe, but Asia's acquisition of the Modigliani portrait underscores increasing purchasing power in the region.