To quote R&B diva Beyonce following a technical error during one of her shows, “Somebody’s getting fired!”

That somebody is of course whoever accidentally or otherwise disposed of a multi-million dollar painting that had just been sold at auction!

Chinese firm Poly Auction was no doubt in the process of a lot of back-patting following their successful sale of the “Snowy Mountain” painting by contemporary Chinese artist Cui Ruzhuo. It was auctioned off for 28.8 million Hong Kong dollars or about $3.7 million.

The auction occurred at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Hong Kong on Monday and the painting turned up missing the next day.

Apparently someone got the bright idea to put the painting on the floor, likely near other disposable items. One thing led to another and now Poly Auction suspects someone’s blunder is why a valuable piece of art is sitting in a landfill at this very moment.

Fingers were even pointed at the hotel staff.

Grand Hyatt has since released a statement saying that while the hotel was cooperating to the fullest with Hong Kong police, they would not be taking any sort of responsibility for the missing painting.

The hotel told Reuters that if any cleaning staff or security guards were at fault, then it would have been whichever individuals were hired for that auction by Poly Auction. Auctioneers typically hire their own personnel for events rather than rely on hotel staff.

Police have no leads in this bizarre case and no one is accused of having stolen the valuable painting. It’s being reported that the matter is not to be pursued by the company and that the painting will be written off as a loss.

Some consolation that is to artist and buyer!

It must be said that the act of putting such artwork in the trash, intentionally or not, may prove to have been the ultimate form of art criticism.

Image via YouTube