A painting created by Chinese internet billionaire Jack Ma and artist Zeng Fanzhi that will be auctioned by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on Sunday could fetch as much as HK$2.5 million ($459,000) for charity, according to the auction house.

The oil on canvas painting created in 2014 depicts planet Earth and is titled "Paradise."

The 51-year old co-founder and chairman of China's biggest e-commerce site Alibaba teamed up with Zeng on the art piece to raise awareness of environmental protection, according to the Sotheby's catalogue.

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

According to the auction house's description, the billionaire and the artist first coated their canvas with paint, then dotted it and used palette knives to scrape its surface.

Zeng is one of China's pre-eminent contemporary artists, whose painting "The Last Supper" set a record for an Asian living artist when it sold for $US23.3 million at Sotheby's in 2013.

The 79.6cm-diametre "Paradise", signed by both Ma and Zeng in Chinese, will go on the block during the Modern and Contemporary Asian Evening Art Sale as part of Sotheby's five-day sales from October 2-7 where wine, jewellery, furniture, ceramics, watches and art will be auctioned at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Ma is China's second-richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated wealth of $US25.9 billion. He has lost about $2.5 billion this year as Alibaba's growth fell short of investors' expectations amid China's slowing economy, sending down its shares.