New York (Bloomberg) — A 16th-century Dutch painting seized by the East German secret police and returned to its owner after more than 20 years in state custody sold for $8.1 million at Christie's International in New York yesterday.

The buyer is an anonymous European collector, the auction house said.

"Hercules and Achelous," by Cornelis Van Haarlem (1562- 1638), was confiscated in 1985 by the Stasi, one of the most repressive state security agencies in the former Soviet bloc, in a dispute over taxes. It was returned to its owner earlier this year, Christie's said. The 1590 painting depicts Hercules struggling with Achelous, a river god from Greek mythology disguised as a bull.

The price, including a commission paid to the auction house, was more than four times the $2 million maximum, or high estimate, Christie's expected it to fetch and a record for a Van Haarlem. "It's one of the most important Mannerist paintings to come to the market in recent years," New York art dealer Richard Feigen said.

"A lot of museums are potential clients for this painting," said Feigen, whose gallery has placed works in more than 110 museums worldwide.

Mannerism refers to a period of 16th-century European art between the Late Renaissance and the Baroque era that emphasized artifice over reality through distortion of scale and perspective.

The previous record paid at auction for a Van Haarlem was £ 298,500 ($586,298) for "The Purification of the Israelites at Mount Sinai," sold in 1997 by Sotheby's in London.

The Potschien family, who were art dealers in Berlin, owned "Hercules and Achelous" from about 1925 until the East German government took it in December 1985, according to the Christie's sale catalogue. When the last parent died in 1976, their son, who shared a Berlin apartment with them, assumed ownership of the six-by-eight-foot canvas.