Henry Moore sculpture sells for nearly £1.8m

A sculpture by Henry Moore has sold at auction for £1,762,500 ($2.7m).

His abstract depiction of a human in Reclining Figure: Umbilicus was purchased by an anonymous buyer at a London auction on Wednesday evening.

LS Lowry's painting The Railway Platform fetched the second highest sum at £1,650,500 ($2.5m) in a Christie's sale of modern British and Irish art.

The auction house said five artworks were sold for more than £1m each, highlighting a "continuing demand".

They included a 1953 hand sculpture by Dame Barbara Hepworth, which "sparked fiercely competitive bidding" before selling for £1,426,500 ($2.2m).

The other items included David Bomberg's depiction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was bought for £1,224,900 ($1.8m) - a record auction price for a work by the artist.

Sir Stanley Spencer's painting Hilda with Bluebells was sold for £1,142,500 ($1.7m).

Born in Yorkshire in 1898, Henry Moore was one of the UK's most renowned sculptors.

Christie's added: "The market for works by LS Lowry remains buoyant."

The highest auction price paid for a Lowry artwork was £5.6m for The Football Match in 2011.

Another of his railway-themed paintings, known as Station Approach, Manchester, was sold last year for £2.3m.