Buoyant Sales at Mallams’ 19 October Picture Sale

Mallams’ 19 October Picture sale, held at the auctioneer’s Oxford saleroom, achieved total sales of £150,000, towards the top end estimate. Rupert Fogden, the sale specialist, said “I’m delighted to say that we had a particularly busy viewing period and the sale itself was extremely buoyant. The diverse quantity and range of material offered ensured that the auction was met with quite considerable interest.”

An atmospheric watercolour (lot 424) by the British artist Alfred William Hunt (1830-1896) was the top performing lot. Signed and dated 1857, ‘The Langdale Pikes’ clearly captured the imagination of bidders with the price soaring ever upwards, eventually selling for £8200 to an online trade bidder in the UK.

Dorothea Sharp is best known for her landscapes and depictions of children playing and Mallams was pleased to feature an oil painting attributed to this artist in the sale. Lot 310 was a great example of Sharp’s work, featuring children playing with a toy boat in the Tuileries Garden, Paris. Inscribed to the reverse in pencil and dated 1945, it was estimated at £3000-£5000 but strong competition pushed it above this estimate, with a final, winning bid of £7800 coming from a UK commission bidder.

A striking, 18^th century Dutch school oil painting (lot 229), of a harbourside town with windmills, fishing boats and a cathedral, also performed well, selling for £4000 against a £2000-£3000 estimate.

A large, still life (lot 119) by British artist Frederick Victor Bailey (1919-1997) proved popular amongst bidders. Signed and dated 1979, it featured a vase of mixed flowers with grapes and nuts alongside and achieved almost three times top estimate when the hammer fell at £2200.

Two other 20^th century paintings of note were lot 329 (estimate: £700-£900), a watercolour entitled ‘The Farm on the Hill’ by Stanley Anderson (1884-1966) and lot 220 (estimate: £200-£300), a striking watercolour of a Nuthatch by Basil Ede (1931-2016). Both achieved hammer prices of £1900.

Mallams is now accepting entries for its 2023 Picture Sales so if you have any interesting items you are considering selling at auction, please email Rupert Fogden on rupert@mallams.co.uk for a free, informal valuation.

All prices are subject to a 30% buyers' premium (VAT inclusive).