Jeff Koons has beaten a record set by British artist David Hockney for the most expensive work sold by a living artist.

The US pop artist’s Rabbit sculpture, which is one of his best-known pieces, sold for $91.1m (£71m) at auction by Christie’s in New York – more than $20m over its estimated price.

Sculptures of Jeff Koons Show all 10 1 /10 Sculptures of Jeff Koons Sculptures of Jeff Koons Michael Jackson and Bubbles On display at Tate Liverpool PA Sculptures of Jeff Koons Seated Ballerina A 45-foot inflatable nylon sculpture unveiled at the Rockerfeller Centre in New York in 2017 AFP/Getty Sculptures of Jeff Koons Titi Tire On display at the modern art fair Art Basel in 2017 AFP/Getty Sculptures of Jeff Koons Metallic Venus On display in the exhibition "Empire State. New York art now" at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome in 2013 AFP/Getty Sculptures of Jeff Koons Balloon Flower (Magenta) On display in St James's Square in London in 2008 PA Sculptures of Jeff Koons Moon On display at a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 2015 AFP/Getty Sculptures of Jeff Koons Rabbit The most expensive artwork ever sold by a living artist, at $91.1m (£71). On display at Christie's in New York AFP/Getty Sculptures of Jeff Koons Play-Doh 1994-2014 On display at the Newport Gallery in London PA Sculptures of Jeff Koons Hulk On display in a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2014 AFP/Getty Sculptures of Jeff Koons Fait D'Hiver, 1988 On display at the Liebighaus Museum in Frankfurt in 2012 Getty

On its website Christie's described the piece, a steel cast of an inflatable created in 1986, as “cute, sinister, cartoonish, imposing, vacuous, sexy, chilling, dazzling and iconic”.

According to the New York Times, Robert E Mnuchin, an art dealer and the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, was the winning bidder.

Koons previously held the record price for a living artist's work for his piece Balloon Dog (Orange), but was overtaken by Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which sold for just over $90m (£70m) last year – also at Christie’s.