A painting by the Syrian artist Louay Kayyali sold for £11,000 in the Fine Art sale at the Lincoln auction rooms.
The portrait of Jacqueline van den Brandeler (nee. Merrier) was commissioned by her husband Jonkheer D. van den Brandeler while he was the Dutch Ambassador in Syria. The oil on canvas was the first lot in the evening sale at Golding Young & Mawer on Wednesday, September 26.
Auctioneer William Gregory said: "This picture, which was consigned to auction by a relative of the sitter, was a stunning example of portraiture work by a gifted, but tragically troubled, artist.
"As the picture is by an internationally collected artist and has such an excellent provenance, we were interesting to see where the bids came from on sale day. It finally sold to a UK buyer against interest from bidders in Israel and Los Angeles."
Among the other 248 paintings in the sale, a signed watercolour by John Piper (1903-1992) titled 'Church within trees' sold to a Lincolnshire collector for £1,900 and a signed oil on canvas by the Cornish artist Ben Maile (b. 1922) titled 'The Old Crusader' made £780 against a pre-sale estimate of £400 to £600.
A painting of Nottingham's King Street by the well-known city artist Arthur Spooner sold for £340.
The sale also included 44 paintings, from portraits to 19th century oils and other works, from the collection of Lincoln man Arnold 'Bill' Beresford which sold for around £15,000. Mr Beresford was considered a 'collecting connoisseur', always buying the best he could afford, and items from his estate have been sold at the last two sales at Golding Young & Mawer.
Among Mr Beresford's collection, a portrait of William Walker of Killingbeck, near Leeds, Yorkshire, by the artist John Russell (1745-1806) sold for £1,050. The pastel was signed and dated 1800. An 18th century school oil on canvas titled 'Portrait of a lady' sold for £850, well over its £300 to £500 estimate and an 18th to 19th century British School oil on canvas of British and French frigates in battle, which featured a frame with the label 'Thomas Whitcomb', sold for £950.
Of two works by the artist Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005), a plastic sculpture of an elephant with booklet sold to a UK collector bidding with a commission bid for £600 and a signed screen print titled 'Jazz' sold to a local artist who once studied under Paolozzi for £250.
An oil on paper dated 1948 and titled 'Abstract forms' by Anthony Hill (b. 1930) sold for £650, over twice its top estimate and a signed watercolour of Knaresborough, Yorkshire by Leonard Squirrell (1893-1979) was hotly contested and finally sold for £580 to a buyer in the saleroom.
A watercolour of 'Working horses ploughing' by the artist Lionel Edwards (1878-1966) was keenly fought for in the saleroom before being bought by a buyer on the telephone for £1,600, well over its £800 to £1,200 estimate.
An 18th century oil on canvas (later laid to board) of a Herdsman on horseback driving cattle, initialled 'C.J.', sold for £1,000.
Meanwhile, a series of works by Lincolnshire artists were also featured in the sale. There were 10 watercolours by the artist Sir James Braithwaite Peile (1836-1906) depicting scenes of Boston, Horncastle, Lincoln, Tattershall and Coningsby on Bain.
Peile's painting titled 'St Botolph, Boston' was signed and dated September 15, 1896, and sold for £200. Another work, painted two days later on September 17, 1896, was titled 'High Street, Lincoln' and sold to a Lincolnshire collector for £380.
Four paintings by the travelling artist Fred Thurlby showing championship cattle and horses at agricultural shows in Grantham and Lincolnshire sold to four different buyers for a total of £1,700. Among them, an oil on canvas titled 'Ponton Pioneer (38543), signed and dated 1926, sold for £460 and another oil on canvas titled 'Ponton Woldsman (40792) Champion Stallion on the Lincolnshire Show 1935' sold for £680, well above its £200 to £400 estimate.
Of three paintings by Grimsby artist Herbert Rollett (1872-1932), a signed oil on board titled 'Lincolnshire landscape' sold to a Lincolnshire collector for £700, well above its £200 and £300 estimate. Three works by the Lincoln artist Antonin (Tony) Bartl (1912-1996) included a signed oil on canvas titled 'Female form' which sold for £400 and a pencil head and shoulder portrait of Diana Ripley, dated 1976, which made £300.
Three signed limited edition prints by the Grimsby artist Vincent Haddersley titled 'Horse and Carriage', 'The Hunt' and 'The Horse Race' sold for over £200 in total, and a glazed dish with multi-fired decoration by the ceramic artist Peter Moss (b.1940) sold for £100.
An acrylic by the Lincoln painter, illustrator and lecturer Roy Ridsdale (b. 1942) titled 'Male life study' made £50.
