Popular lower down the price sale was a very different subject.
The Dutch artist Joachim de Vries (active c.1753-89) had painted this view of the ships in the Greenland whaling ground in 1770 and had signed and dated it on a log resting on the floating ice depicted in the lower right of the 18in x 2ft 3in (47 x 70cm) canvas.
It outpaced its $5000-8000 estimate on February 5 to take $32,500 (£25,000).