This is a clear indicator of the quality of works on offer and where the market stands at present

Jussi Pylkkanen of Christie's

But the Monet was upstaged by a world auction record for the Spanish cubist artist Juan Gris.

Gris' work Le Gueridon, painted in 1914, fetched �4.4m.

"This is the highest total for an impressionist and modern art sale held here in London for over a decade, which is a clear indicator of the quality of the works on offer and where the market stands at present," said Jussi Pylkkanen of Christie's.

A separate sale of post-war art raised �3.9m.

The top lot was an untitled piece by Mark Rothko, painted in 1968, which sold for �718,750.

In a rare coincidence, another scarcely seen Monet painting is available in a separate sale at Sotheby's on Tuesday.

Meules, Derniers Rayons de Soleil - usually known as Haystacks but which actually depicts grain stacks - could fetch up to �7m.

Monet's Nympheas fetched $22.5m (�15.6m) in 1999

Painted in Normandy in 1890, it has not been exhibited for more than 100 years.

One other Monet painting, Au Parc Monceau, will also be sold - from which a proportion of the expected �1.5 to �2m takings will go towards a Jewish family that was forced to sell it by the Nazis in 1935.

It had belonged to Ludwig Kainer, a painter, illustrator and set designer who worked for the Ballet Russes and the Berlin opera, before one of a number of "Jew auctions".

A spokesman for Sotheby's declined to reveal what proportion of the money will go to Kainer's descendants and how much to the current owner, a European collector who wants to stay anonymous.

Paintings by Renoir, Van Gogh and Chagall will also form part of the Sotheby's auction.