Art Market

British watercolours and oils from the 18th and 19th centuries grabbed bidders’ attention at a recent Oxford auction, proving there is life in this traditional market given the right artists and good provenance.

Pictures formed a prominent part of Lyon & Turnbull’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) Kirkton House sale earlier this month as the contents of the Regency manse near Montrose were dispersed from the auction house’s Edinburgh saleroom.

Provenance proved the key component for two paintings that achieved multi-estimate sums at Bonhams (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) in London.

The current demand for female artists was in evidence at Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium) of Chichester when a work by Evelyn Ince (1886-1941) went under the hammer.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales below £6500 and three upcoming lots offered over the next fortnight, including a painting of Margate by George-William Thornley.

Representing just a fraction of the international art market and often overshadowed by the demand for 2D art, Irish sculpture has undergone a quieter recovery.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales including a David Jagger portrait.

While demand is encouraging, a scarcity of high-quality work is hitting the supply side

Earlier this year, the Paris auction house Artcurial sold an exceptional collection of Impressionist and Cubist works by the influential Czech avant-garde artist Otakar Kubin (1883-1969).

This watercolour bearing the signature of Norwich School artist John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) attracted a flurry of bids when it went under the hammer in Nottingham.

Renowned today for his fusion of Post- Impressionism and eastern European folk-art, the Jewish painter Mark Gertler (1891-1939) was inspired at the outset of his career by the northern and early-Italian Renaissance masters.

Distinctly patriotic in nature, stage and mail coach depictions started c.1815, reaching peak popularity in the later 1820s with the artist James Pollard (1792-1867).

Striking depiction of Folies Bergère entertainer is among eclectic selection offered in Sussex.

Pictures, trophies and other mementos were among the contents from a historic nursing home in south-west London dispersed at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium).

Standing proud in full riding wear, this early 20th century portrait of a female rider and her two terriers, below, struck a chord with bidders in Sussex.