BEIJING (AP) &#8212 A Ming Dynasty painting has been auctioned off for $10.7 million, a record price for a Chinese painting, state media said.

“The Red Cliff Handscroll” by painter Qiu Ying was sold to a private buyer from China by China Guardian Auctions Co., Xinhua News Agency said.

“‘The Red Cliff Handscroll’ is the first Chinese painting to have been sold at more than $10 million. It is a fair price for the masterpiece considering its invaluable artistic and historical worth,” Wang Yannan, president of the auction company, was quoted as saying by Xinhua on Wednesday.

“It marks the status of Chinese painting in the international market.”

The previous record for a Chinese painting was set earlier this year at an auction in Hong Kong, when “Put Down Your Whip” by Xu Beihong sold for $8.19 million.

The Ming Dynasty ran from 1368 to 1644. Qiu was a master of gongbi, a meticulous brush technique. He was born in east China’s Jiangsu province in 1494 and died in 1552. Fewer than 50 of his works have survived.

Xinhua said the painting had been kept by an entrepreneur from Tianjin in northern China for more than 80 years.