But there seemed to be some stirrings of life in the sporting market at Sotheby's (20/12% buyer's premium) sale of British paintings, drawings and watercolours on March 22.
The first nine lots in the sale were all sporting paintings, of which no fewer than eight found buyers with prices ranging from £4800 to £82,000.
Obviously this is far too small a sample of results from which to extrapolate a broader trend, but as specialist-in-charge David Moore-Gwyn pointed out: "A couple of years ago I would have been worried about starting the sale with a group of sporting pictures, which used to be a pretty dead market. But now some new private people have decided these are rather good things and have begun to collect them."
Predictable top performer was this John Ferneley Senior (1782-1860) canvas, right, Mr Powell and Son with his Stallion, Norton, a distant view of Melton Mowbray beyond, which had been featured on the front cover of the catalogue.
Estimated at £50,000-70,000, making it one of the few paintings in this mid-season Sotheby's sale valued at over £20,000, the signed and dated 1820 canvas measured a commercial 2ft 81/2in x 3ft 43/4in (84cm x 1.04m) and had been entered in good condition from a private collection, where it had been held for several decades.
Norton was only a moderately successful racehorse who retired to stud at Melton Mowbray where he sired a number of high-class hunters. Doubtless it was the more general decorative appeal to rich owners of country houses which encouraged the final bid of £82,000 from an anonymous trade buyer, underbid by one of Sotheby's new sporting painting enthusiasts.
Elsewhere in the auction, bidding was far more selective, the final premium-inclusive total of £895,380 falling well below the £1m-1.5m estimate, with just under 60 per cent of the 146 lots finding buyers.
Middling-quality oil landscapes and portraits were particularly tricky, but anything with an extra edge of historical interest or a personal connection with a private bidder sold easily enough.
