BEIJING.- The largest auction ever held by Sotheby’s in Asia of a single owner’s art collection raised less money than expected Thursday, a sign that rising global interest rates may be starting to weigh on the market for fine art.

A portrait by Amedeo Modigliani sold for considerably less than predicted, and 10 other artworks failed to sell when bidding fell short of reserve prices.

The auction, which was held in Hong Kong and streamed online for bidders around the world, produced total sales of $69.5 million including commissions, Sotheby’s said. The auction house had predicted last week that the sale would raise $95 million to $135 million before subtracting fees.

China’s best-known art investor, Liu Yiqian, and his wife, Wang Wei, who has managed the museums that hold many of the couple’s artworks, were selling part of their large collection. Liu is a former Shanghai taxi driver who has said he made a fortune with investments in Chinese real estate and pharmaceutical stocks.

In 2014, he paid a record $36.3 million for an ancient Chinese porcelain cup, followed by $45 million for a 600-year-old silk wall hanging. He paid $170.4 million for Modigliani’s risqué “Nu Couché” painting a year later. To display these and other purchases, Liu and Wang built three museums: two in Shanghai and a third in Chongqing, China.

Those three items were not included in Thursday’s sale. The auction did include a different Modigliani painting, “Paulette Jourdain,” which Sotheby’s had sold for $42.8 million in 2015.

Sotheby’s had predicted that it would sell in Thursday’s auction for “in excess of $45 million.” But the portrait ended up fetching $34.9 million, including fees.

Art investors face a difficult global environment as interest rates around the world have surged. Higher interest rates have made it more attractive to park money in bonds or bank accounts instead of assets, like art, that pay no interest. Owning fine art offers aesthetic dividends, but the security and insurance costs can be considerable.

An increase in interest rates “changes the calculus and incentives to store part of one’s assets in art,” said Amy Whitaker, an associate professor of art and economics at New York University.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.