The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-25
ANT VALUES GOING UP.
Good Prices Paid ~ the London Auction
sales IN the season JuSt Ended.

sales IN the season Just Ended.
LONDON, Aug. N.-The season OF Inn
portant art sales IL over. In summing up
IL IL gratifying to zee that although tho
record at Christie's does not show ~ many
tremendously high prices paid for single
pictures and objects dart a. In some previ-
ous seasons. still on the whole commercial
art value are on the ascending scale. This
is true not only OF pictures but also Of prints,
decorative furniture, old silver, porcelains
and all costly objects OF bijouterie.
Although the list Of purchasers does not
show IL, the fact remains that q larger
proportion OF sales than ever before have
been on American account. This 10 espe-
cially true OF the highest priced works OF
art Of all descriptions.
The most sensational event OF the auction
room year was when all fashionable London
assembled at Christie's for the Lewis
belonging 10 the late Mrs. Hill
brought a total Of z4,02S.
Among the silver sales the dispersal OF
the Speakers plate at the Bunbury sale
was especially notable. This collection
wa the perquisite Of Sir Thomas Hammer
when he was Speaker In i7is-i4. 1t was
composed Of only . few pieces but IL realized
eli, $40.
In tho porcelains. while thsre were no
Chinese ginger jars such as sold at 80 900
In the previous year. stil 5000 was fire.
quently reached in tho bidding. The sea-
son had hardly begun when . remarkable
record was made In tho sale of . tiny Dres-
den figure Of . much crinolmed lady and
IN impossible littb pug dog.
h owner would have parted with IL
for o much smaller sum, and must have
been greatly gratihed when he saw tho
high value put upon IL in the rooms. Tho
bidding did not stop until Mr.. Duveen
had run up the figures to 5000. which h
undoubtedly the highest price ever paid
for . single Dresden figure.
This season list Of prices of mezzo-
tint masterpieces which came under tho
hammer compare with hat Of two
seasons ago.w when 5000 was paid for T.
Watson's Lady Bamfylde. after Reynolds.
Still h record was an excellent ons. There
was the Wilfred Lawson sale which pro-
duoed . total Of 500 $50. Then the large
sun OF 8 $500 was paid for q colored i'm
preston OF Bartolozzi's print Of the por-
trait Of Miss Farren by Lawrence, who.
by the way. was thought we'll paid when
Lord Derby gave him $500 for the original
picture.
A retrospect Of the picture sales shows the
same interesting standard of good prices
without any gigantic deals. The highest
sum paid during the a was s40, 900. bid
one afternoon recently by c. Wertheimer
for Lawrence's "Childhood's Innocence q
portrait Of Julia. daughter Of Sir Robert
paA Thta nxtra - far IN aynaoa 80 a.~ MA
vious record for Lawrence. whose top figure
before the last season opened was SIS, 900
for a portrait Of Emily Ogilvie at the Wood
sale in 1905.
Raeburn, whose record OF ga, 500 has
never been surpassed. and is the high water
mark in an auction room for a single work,
came second on the list with S33, 600 for his
portrait Of Mrs. Hart. which Mr.. Agnew
bought at the Hotchkiss sale. Gains
borough occupied third place with SIS, 500
for the Pastoral Landscape" at the HUH
s~sle-less than half his record Of seo, 900 for
the portrait OF Maria Walpole at the Cam
bridge sale in q previous season.
Reynolds, likewise, reached only his AUG
ton room record when the lovely Master
Bunbury" ven for s2s,OOo, at what was
rightly regarded as the sale Of the season on
July S. when Hopper's Mrs. Manning and
Daughter" and his Susanna CYL" went for
$40, 900 each, Reynolds's MRS. Horneck" for
81, 500 and L~awrence's MRS. Bradbourne"
for 81, 900.
The picture which provoked more pre-
liminary gueeswork as to its auction room
value than any other during the last year
was Rossetti's Veronica veronese," which
along with other works Of this artist and
others Of his school made the last picture
sale in June remembered as a Rossetti day.
The result was a drop in value Of more
than 81. 900 since the Vale sale OF 1903, for
il only fetched Si3,5OO as compared with
$4,000.
Whereas in the previous year Romney
held his " in the hierarchy OF English
masters with $50 900 for Mrs. Mingay,"
his top figure this season was Sl4.75 s for
Miss Henrietta Hotham." The dwindling
reputation OF Landseer was exemplifed in
the fall to $751; 500 from SiS.250 for the Dec
Family" IN the Dudley sale in 1889.
George Morland. a rising star in the
auction room, reached a maximum Of
$4,000 for his Happy Cottagers' early in
the present year.
The Continental masters made less stir
than. usual this year. n the principal
sales worth recalling are those OF A. Cuyp's
Dutch Farm $4,000; Mabuse's Jean
Carondelet," SIs,50O; Amberger's Portrait
Of a Divine SIS. 500; Van Scorel's Salvador
Mundi, SIS. 900; Watteau's La ontredanse."
si2, 500. and Nine. LIE Bruins -Duchesse de
psonno. y an nOO