14/03/2023
With more than 600 lots up for auction, it was a very busy day at Mallams’ 8 March Oxford Art & Music Sale, and total sales of £186,000 were achieved. Rupert Fogden, Mallams’ Director and Art & Music Sale Specialist, said “The sale included a good and diverse range of artists, styles and subject matters and was very well received by dealers, collectors and private clients, ensuring some encouraging results.”
The sale featured prints and engravings, oils and watercolours, miniatures and musical instruments, as well as books, frames and accessories.
A number of oil paintings from a Cotswold estate proved particularly popular and one of those, lot 186, was the top performing lot. This oil on canvas portrait of a lady (possibly from the Fairfax family, York) wearing a brown dress and blue cape, from the Circle of Mary Beale (1632-1697/99) was estimated at £2000-£3000. However, highly competitive bidding pushed the price ever upwards, and it eventually sold to a telephone bidder for £31,000, more than 10 times top estimate.
Also from the same estate was lot 178, an oil painting of a Spanish Grandee wearing a white ruff and Milanese armour, painted by a follower of Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt (1567-1641). A bird symbol on the sitter's left arm, was possibly representative of a family symbol. This achieved the top estimate of £6000, going to an online bidder.
A signed oil painting by the British painter, Alfred de Breanski (1852-1928), particularly noted for his landscapes of England, Scotland and Wales was another lot that piqued interest. Lot 331, entitled 'The Head of Loch Lubnaig' (a small freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands), was sold with both the original and a later replacement frame and sold for £10,000 to a telephone bidder, double mid estimate.
‘The Flower Girl’ from the 19th century English school, also performed well. This oil on canvas painting (lot 374) was estimated at £800-£1200, but the hammer eventually fell to an online bidder at £2800.
Other lots of note include a 19th century charcoal painting of a girl’s head by Sir Edward John Poynter (1836-1919) which sold to a telephone bidder for the lower estimate of £2000 (lot 309) and an oil on canvas landscape of 'Manor Farm, Nesfield, Wharfedale' by Herbert Royle (1870-1954/58) which sold online for £1300, just above top estimate (lot 544).
Mallams is now accepting entries for its 12 July Picture Sale so if you have any interesting items you are considering selling at auction, please email Rupert Fogden on rupert@mallams.co.uk for a free, informal valuation.
All prices are subject to a 30% buyers' premium (VAT inclusive).
Stay up to date with your preferred specialist department and be the first to get notified of any future sales.