This English School portrait of a lady, circa 1595-1605, was the top lot.
THE three day Cowdray Park sale by Christie’s in West Sussex realised £7.9 million against pre-sale estimate of £5 million. The top lot was an English School portrait of a lady, circa 1595-1605. The subject was traditionally identified as Queen Elizabeth I but is more probably Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham. It made £325,250.
The sale was 93% sold by lot and a total of 1,122 lots found buyers. Winning bidders came from 34 countries, with 72% from the UK. Internet bidding represented 22% of registered bidders.
Andrew Waters, Head of Private Collection and Country House Sales, London; and Gemma Sudlow, Specialist:: “ Christie’s has a long and distinguished history of important country house sales stretching back over 200 years; this week illustrated the global appeal of the traditional British country house sale in the 21st century”.
Nine works from Cowdray Park, headed by Thomas Gainsborough’s full-length portrait of Mrs William Villebois which sold for a record £6,537,250, made a collective total of £10,974,000 at Christie’s in London in July.
See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for September 14 and August 17.