• A painting of Jack Ma was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong.

A painting of Jack Ma was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong. (Photo : Twitter)

The chief executive of Internet giant Alibaba, Jack Ma, was the inspiration for a portrait that sold for $414,000 at Sotheby's Hong Kong.

The artist behind the portrait, José-María Cano, made a series called Wall Street 100, and Jack Ma's portrait was one of the paintings. The portrait was made with encaustic or hot wax.

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The portrait was based on a picture originally printed in The Wall Street Journal. Cano's series focused on financial leaders who were featured in newspapers.

Cano's objective is to give a fresh perspective on the world's richest people.

Andy Warhol's iconic portrait of Mao Zedong was sold for $12.5 million. The amount is the highest paid painting in Asia for Western Art. The buyer was not disclosed.

Last year, Jack Ma himself sold a painting at Sotheby's which sold for $5.4 million. The amount was 17 times more than the estimated price.

Proceeds of the sale went to a charity to promote environmental preservation efforts.

Jack Ma's painting was done in collaboration with artist Zeng Fanzhi. The painting, entitled "Paradise," was sold to a Chinese businessman named Qian Fenglei.

Ma said, "That this is the first time I've painted, and to have been able to do it with Fanzhi-I am deeply honored; this is my first time to paint, and I feel very good. Together, we created an earth: to protect the earth, to protect the oceans, to protect the air, to protect water."

One of the richest men in China, Ma is a known environmentalist who has banned the sale of shark's fin on Alibaba.

He also bought 28,000 acres in New York's Adirondack Mountains for the sole purpose of conservation.

Zeng is one of China's famous artists who became more famous for his work "The Last Supper." His painting made a record sale of $23.3 million in 2013.