Slave and Lion, a painting by famous Chinese artist Xu Beihong, was auctioned in Hong Kong Sunday at HK$53.9 million (US$6.9 million), a record high price compared with prices fetched by Chinese artists' paintings worldwide.

The price far exceeded the HK$32 million (US$4.1 million) estimate by Christie's Hong Kong in October.

According to the auction company, Slave and Lion is one of Xu's early works, painted with realistic technique combining a Western sense of form and a Chinese lines.

The painting depicts the story of a slave and a lion in the Roman Empire. The slave having brought succor to a lion with a thorn in its paw later meets the same lion in the bloody surrounds of a Roman amphitheater. The emperor was moved by the touching reunion and thus gave the slave his freedom.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2006)