Rather fewer people, perhaps, would have nominated this large 3ft 4in x 4ft 2in (1.02 x 1.27m) canvas, right, entitled Night anchorage at Whampoa, which carried an estimate of $150,000-200,000 at the February 10 Maritime Sale held by Christie’s (19.5/12% buyer’s premium) in New York.
The painting shows clippers at rest in the gathering dusk at Whampoa Reach, the large deep-water anchorage in the Pearl River where, in the mid-19th century, ships would take on cargoes of China tea that would be raced back in record times to ports in the UK and America.
Although none of the ships is identified in the title of the painting, the clipper in the central foreground may well be the legendary Aberdeen-built Thermopylae.
The atmospheric treatment of light immediately set the painting apart from the usual run of Dawsons that come up for sale, as did the imposing size, unrestored and unlined condition, and unbroken private provenance stretching back some 30 years.
According to its private vendor, the painting had been bought at the artist’s own suggestion from McConnal & Mason and had never been offered at auction before. In the end, these proved to be key ingredients for an American collector being prepared to secure it at a record sum of $270,000 (£145,945), underbid by the London trade. The previous record for Dawson was the $210,000 (£130,435) given for the more obvious clipper-in-full-sail subject, Clearing Skies – The Glory of the Seas at Christie’s East in February 1997.
Exchange rate: £1 = $1.80
Legendary clipper sets $270,000 record for a Dawson with a difference
IF asked to nominate the subject of a commercial painting by Montague Dawson (1895-1973), most specialists and collectors would think of a clipper ship, preferably an American clipper in full sail on picturesquely choppy, but not too choppy, seas.
