A painting by LS Lowry was sold for £5.6 million at auction, matching a world record price for the artist.

The 1960 painting of Piccadilly Circus was sold at Christie’s for £5,641,250, matching the previous record for Lowry’s work set in May 2011 with the sale of The Football Match, which also went for £5.6 million.

The sale was also the joint highest world record in the category of 20th century British and Irish art, the auction house said. The picture of the famous London landmark went under the hammer as part of a collection of 14 works known as The Lord Forte Collection of Paintings by LS Lowry.

Comprised entirely of oil paintings dating from the 1930s to the 1960s, the collection’s stand-out piece was Piccadilly Circus, which was expected to fetch between £4 million and £6 million, and was purchased by a private buyer. Lowry painted very few London scenes, and only two depict the capital’s busy Piccadilly Circus. The earlier and smaller of which, dating to 1959, was a private commission. It was sold in June 1998 for £562,500, which was a record price for the artist at the time.

According to Christie’s, the market for Lowry has never been stronger.

Philip Harley, head of 20th Century British and Irish Art at Christie’s London, said 2011 marked an “unprecedented” year for this category at Christie’s, in which £41,502,500 had been realised so far.

The collection as a whole fetched £17,668,250, far exceeding the pre-sale estimate.