London  - Edgar Degas' sculpture Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (The Little Dancer) was sold Tuesday at auction to a private Asian buyer for 13.3 million pounds
(18.9 million dollars), London auction house Sotheby's said.

The price set a new record for a sculpture by the French Impressionist. The previous auction record for a Degas sculpture was 7.5 million pounds, set in November 1999 at Sotheby's in New York, the auction house said.

The bronze sculpture belonged to the collection of British art philanthropist John Madejski, who purchased it five years ago at Sotheby's in London for 5 million pounds.

Sotheby's said that three bidders pursued the piece, which was sold above its estimate of 9 million to 12 million pounds.

The ground-breaking sculpture from the Impressionist period captures a 14-year-old girl dancing ballet taking a delicate and subtle pose. The piece is one of Degas' most ambitious and iconic works.

It was cast in bronze from 1922 after the original was found in Degas' studio after his death in 1917. When first exhibited in 1881 in Paris, the original wax caused a sensation due to the realistic depiction of the ballerina.

The bronze cast sold Tuesday was one of only a handful of casts to have remained in private hands. The majority of the other casts are in major international museum collections, including the Tate Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

"The record-breaking price achieved for this exceptional sculpture tonight is a testament to the strength of the market for rare works of exceptional quality," Helena Newman of Sotheby's said late Tuesday.

Art experts said the winning bid above the upper appraised value for the work was "encouraging" at a time of financial uncertainty. dpa