Submitted by aarAdmin on Thu, 06/18/2020 - 00:00
An early 19th Anglo-Indian centre table, two paintings by Australian artist Hugh Sawrey and the ship’s masthead figure of Spain’s Queen Isabella II’s husband Don Francisco de Assis Maria Fernando de Bourbon filled the top four spots at Leski Auctions Australian & Historical sale from June 13-14 in Melbourne.
The table (lot 430) sold for $16,000, just clear of its top catalogue estimate of $15,000, while the Sawrey paintings (lots 853 and 854) – respectively titled McConachies Ten Horse Team North Queensland and Trooper on Patrol, Ranken N.T. – each went under the hammer for $15,000.
The masthead (lot 10), which changed hands for $10,000, provides an interesting anecdote.
Don Francisco – known in English as Francis of Assisi after the saint of the same name – was born the Duke of Cadiz on May 13, 1822.
He became Queen Isabella’s husband in 1846 and later consort until 1868 when they both were forced into exile in France.
Two years later, Isabella abdicated in favour of their son Alfonso XII, whom the 1874 restoration placed on the throne.
A circa 1909 Tasmanian tiger sterling silver inkwell (lot 536) surprised all comers when it was knocked down for $9000 against a catalogue estimate of $1000-$1500 – while a 19th century painting of the Tasmanian penal colony Port Arthur’s Isle of the Dead (lot 414) by an unknown artist was even more spectacular when it sold for $8000 on a $120-$200 estimate.
Jessie Trail’s (1881-1967) 1911 painting titled Darwin Foreshore with Government Buildings in the Background brought the same amount. The painting was originally bought by Mrs Cairns Officer and left to her niece Mrs V. Thompson in Launceston before ending up in a private Tasmanian collection.
James Alfred Turner (1850-1908) also figured prominently when his painting The Shaft on the Hill (lot 774) sent under the hammer for $7000 (above the catalogue estimate).
Likewise, Samuel Thomas Gill’s (1818-1880) catalogue front cover illustration The Chase (lot 777) was knocked down for a well-priced $6000.
A circa 1900 carved wall plaque entitled “Kookaburra” (lot 105) by Australian artist Francis Edmond Streizel (1860-1935) was another popular item, changing hands for a similar figure.
