Courtesy Sotheby's

Pablo Picasso's "Arlequin (Buste)" (1909) has been withdrawn from Sotheby’s Imp-Mod sale on November 3.

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“It’s been withdrawn for private reasons,” said David Norman, a co-chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department worldwide.

The decision to remove Arlequin (1909) from the sale is hardly surprising. It has been rumored for weeks that the work, from the artist’s Analytic Cubist phase, would be withdrawn over fears that art market prices will plunge due to the state of the economy.

The work was estimated to earn more than $30 million, but carried no guarantee.

Arlequin was consigned by the estate of the Surrealist painter Enrico Donati, who died in April. Donati purchased the work in 1947 from the legendary dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler for about $12,000.