A 1939 Chinese painting has sold for a record price in Hong Kong, fetching more than $9.4 million Cdn Saturday at an auction. Put Down Your Whip by Xu Beihong was sold by Sotheby's for more than double its estimated price to an anonymous collector over the phone.

Sotheby's head of Chinese paintings CK Cheung said the work was of "rare and important historical value." "It's important because it exemplifies Xu's technique — which is to have combined Chinese and Western influences," said Cheung.

The sale beat the previous record paid for a Chinese oil painting back in November. Slave and Lion, also by the same artist, was sold for $7.8 million.

Xu painted Put Down Your Whip during a stay in Singapore. The life-size portrait features Xu's actress friend Wang Ying playing a role in a street drama about a father and his daughter in wartime exile due to the Japanese invasion. Sotheby officials say it was one among others Xu painted to encourage patriotism and raise war funds for China.

"The motive, date, theme and historical backdrop and the epic all of these mark the painting as Xu Beihong's most impressive work," said a statement released by Sotheby's.

Sotheby's said the picture was last seen in public in 1954, a year after Xu died. The sale signals the continuing explosion of interest in Asian art. Over the past couple of years, the prices have soared as first-time Asian buyers enter the market.

Saturday's auction included 180 lots of paintings, inks and sculptures from several artistic periods.