A conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, “Comedian,” is just a fruit-stand banana taped on the wall. But 7 bidders were biting. It went to a crypto entrepreneur.

Turns out that crypto bros love “Comedian,” Maurizio Cattelan’s now-infamous work consisting of a banana with duct tape, a spoof of art-world capitalism.

It's being dubbed "peel-and-eat-art" because it's an actual banana duct-taped to a wall, and it just sold for a whopping $5.2 million. With the $1 million Sotheby's Auction house fees on top of that,

Beyond the headline-grabbing sales of the fall auction season, the market tries to soar beyond its two-year slump.

The Italian artist who created the banana duct-taped to a wall that sold this week for $6.2 million, said in an interview published on Friday that the work was a "provocation" and an invitation to appreciate the true value of art.

A banana duct-taped to a white wall — or an acclaimed piece of art, depending on how you look at it — sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $US6.24 ($A9.57) million on Wednesday. Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian is comprised simply of a banana stuck to the wall with a strip of silver duct tape and is hung exactly 160cm from the floor.

This year has seen some of the worst sales in decades for the art market, and the “Comedian” piece is unlikely to move the needle one way or the other.

A piece of art that is little more than a banana duct-taped to a wall sold at auction for $6.2 million on Wednesday to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, Sotheby's said, furthering the universal conversation about what constitutes art.