Scottish Colourists and Modern British artists led the way in our Winter Fine Paintings sales, British & European Paintings followed by Scottish Paintings & Sculpture. Held over the last few weeks in our Edinburgh saleroom, the auctions achieved a combined total of over £1.1 million.
A piece by Modern British artist, Ivon Hitchens, was the top lot of our 27 November British & European Paintings auction. The unusual still-life attracted a lot of interest, eventually selling for £79,250.
Lyon & Turnbull’s strong record for selling collections continued with two lots from the collection of Denston Hall, Suffolk, selling for well over their top estimates: £11,250 for George Lambert’s Classical Landscape with Figures and £16,250 for George Smith of Chichester’s A Classical River Landscape with Fisherman and Nets.
The sale did offer a few surprises: Hendrik Meyer’s A Busy Dutch Townscape - a forgotten painting that had been stashed in a wardrobe for over a decade – after lots of pre-sale attention, sold for £24,375, more than three time its top estimate. While a striking portrait by Gerald Leslie Brockhurst really captured the imagination of bidders reaching £16,250, more than ten times higher than its top estimate.
A snowy day did not deter buyers and there was a bustling sale-room for Scottish Paintings & Sculpture on the evening of Thursday 11 December, our final sale of the year. This auction continued last year’s successful run of Scottish painting sales, with a selling rate of 75%.
The sale’s star lot was George Leslie Hunter’s A still-life with fruit and flowers on a white cloth, which attracted a lot of attention and bids, before reaching £94,850 (illustrated above). Read more about this piece here.
This was followed by a gorgeous Iona beach scene by F.C.B. Cadell which after being presented in Newcastle, Glasgow, London and Edinburgh fetched £79,250. The work of the Scottish Colourists continue to lead the market with further pieces by George Leslie Hunter, S. J. Peploe and Cadell selling well. The piece by Peploe although a recognisable Iona scene did have a hidden secret, read more here.
Other stand out pieces included William McTaggart’s May Morning (sold for £34,850), William Gillies’ Still-Life Red and Grey (sold for £21,875) and a self-portrait by Glaswegian artist Muirhead Bone - selling for five times top estimate at £8,750.
British & European Paintings Results
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture Results
All prices listed include Buyers Premium.