Much of the American artist's work is conceptualised by himself but created by skilled craftsmen.
The bid at Sotheby's in New York set a new record for work by the artist Jeff Koons beating his previous high of $1.8m (£1.3m).
Koons' piece was created in 1988 from porcelain and shows the superstar reclining with his arm around the monkey.
It was created from a publicity photograph for Koons' Banality series.
Koons is a controversial figure in the art world, and his previous exhibitions have featured toys and balloons, as well as a giant topiary puppy outside the Rockefeller Centre in New York.
Much of the American artist's work is conceptualised by himself but created by skilled craftsmen.
A new record was also set for the artist Gerhard Richter with the oil painting Drei Kerzen reaching $5.4m (£3.8m).
The top lot of the New York sale was Jackson Pollock's Black and White/Number 6, 1951, which fetched $7.9m ($5.5m).
The anonymous bid far exceeded the auction house's high estimate of $4m (£2.8m).
Five works by Andy Warhol were also included in the sale taken from his 1970s series of silk-screens entitled Ladies and Gentlemen.
Unsold
Warhol's Group of Five Campbell's Soup Cans sold for $3.7m (£2.6m)
Works by Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Puryear and Ellen Gallagher also achieved record highs for the artists.
Despite record bids for five of the contemporary artists in the sale a quarter of the lots failed to sell.
The total amount raised was $45.3m (£31.7m).
Sotheby's senior vice president for contemporary art blamed the this on "an unstable economic climate".
Three sculptures by Alexander Calder remained unsold.