Paris  - Two Chinese bronze heads that were at the centre of an international legal tug-of-war were sold late Wednesday at the auction of the Yves Saint Laurent art collection for 14 million euros (17.84 million dollars) each, Christie's auction house said.

The final bids far exceeded the estimate of 8 million to 10 million euros that Christie's, which organized the three-day auction, had placed on them. Including buyers' fees, the price for the two bronzes totalled 31.5 million euros.

The Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe had tried to prevent Christie's auction house from selling the two bronzes because they were allegedly looted from China by British and French troops 150 years ago.

But a Paris judge ruled on Monday that there was no reason to withdraw the statues from the auction.

In addition, China's Foreign Affairs Ministry had said that the bronze heads were "precious cultural treasures which were looted by the joint Anglo-French forces."

"China has incontrovertible ownership of those objects, which should be returned to China," ministry spokeswomen Jiang Yu told reporters.

Saint Laurent's longtime partner, Pierre Berge, who helped organize the sale, said last week that he would return the bronzes to Chinese authorities only if they agreed to apply human rights and free Tibet.

The two bronze heads are believed to be part of a set of 12 representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac.

They were cast in the late 1750s and displayed at Beijing's Old Summer Palace, from where they were believed to have been looted in the razing of the palace by a British- and French-led force from eight foreign powers during the second Opium War.

The auction, which has been described as the "sale of the century," got under way in Paris late Monday.

It consisted of more than 700 pieces which Saint Laurent, who died in June 2008 of a brain tumour, and Berge had collected over a period of 50 years. (dpa)